Part of the country series of articles.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: EXERCISE CAUTIONPARSTATE advises that consular assistance outside of the capital may be limited, and that travellers should avoid the northern border region with the Kingdom of Laos.
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | |
|---|---|
| People’s Democratic Republic | |
 |
|
| Capital | Pakse |
| Languages | Lao, Vietnamese, French, and many highland languages |
| Population | 3,800,000 |
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a single-party socialist state occupying the southern half of the Laotian territory, closely aligned with Vietnam and the Soviet Union. It is poor and agricultural and remains so after a clumsy attempt at establishing heavy industry, with an economy that has modernised unevenly on Soviet and Vietnamese investment. The party controls political life tightly and regards the northern Kingdom of Laos as both a rival and a military threat.
The capital of Pakse, by far its largest city, was developed with Soviet money and Vietnamese engineers. It is famous for its constructivist architecture, monumental civic buildings and public squares designed for assembly. Where Vientiane in the Kingdom looks back to the French and the temple, Pakse looks forward to uneven Soviet internationalism, and the gaps between its grand buildings have a provisional quality that the government prefers to call potential.