The letter was released after the “PetitionOnline.com” had collected 700,000 signatures to support Vietnamese AO victims.

The letter read in part: “Dear friends at PetitionOnline.com. Please allow me on behalf of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society to express our sincere thanks for all the efforts you have made in gathering support for Vietnamese AO victims.

“It has been very encouraging to witness such huge support for the petition that is now close to reaching 700,000 signatures. Your hosting of this petition has given many thousands of people, in many countries, the opportunity to express their support for these tragic victims by signing. We are also pleased to have received many messages of thanks from the people who signed.

“In June the Judges of the New York Court of Appeals will meet to give their ruling. We shall, before they meet, be forwarding the petition address to the Judges of the Court of Appeal so that they can see for themselves the 700,000 plus signatures of people around the world who seek Justice for the Vietnamese AO victims.”

Meanwhile, Vietnamese students at the Tohoku University of Japan have raised VND60 million for charity to aid Vietnamese AO victims, said the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims' Association (VAVA).

Part of the sum was handed over by the VAVA to 12 AO victims in northern Ha Nam province on April 3. The remaining funds will be sent to 12 AO victims in northern Ha Tay province, three in northern Bac Ninh province and three in Hanoi in coming days.

The VAVA has also received a sum of over US$3,670 from an American woman who served with US military during the US war. Joan Duffy, who before her death in November last year from AO related diseases, offered money to help Vietnamese people affected with the same health problems.