The DRV instituted their land reform program from 1953 to 1956, with the government's stated aims being to placate the peasant's hunger for land and break the power of the traditional village elite and gentry.

However, the land reform was accompanied by large-scale repression and 'excesses'[1][2][3] which led to popular resentment.

There would be a 300-day interim period prescribed by the accords, ending May 18, 1955, where people could relocate freely to 1 of the 2 Vietnams of their choosing before the border at the 17th parallel was sealed.

[5] However, in late 1954 and early 1955, along with counter-propaganda, the Viet Minh sought to prevent would-be refugees from leaving.

As the American and French military personnel were only present in the major cities and at air bases and on the waterfront, the North tried to stop people from trying to leave through a military presence in the inland ruralside to interdict the flow of would-be refugees.