Le Van Kim (1918-28 March 1987) was a South Vietnamese ARVN general during the Vietnam War and a key leader behind the 1963 South Vietnamese coup.
Biography[]
Le Van Kim was born in Binh Dinh, French Indochina in 1918, and he attended a specialized preparatory school in France before entering the French Army in 1940 during World War II. In 1956, he became a Major-General in the ARVN military of South Vietnam, and, in 1963, Kim and his brother-in-law Tran Van Don joined Duong Van Minh in carrying out the 1963 South Vietnamese coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1964, he became Army Chief of Staff, but he was ousted by Nguyen Khanh during his coup and was dismissed in 1965. From 1975 to 1982, he was re-educated by North Vietnam, and he went into exile in France in 1982. He died in 1987.