10 January 1973, negotiations broke down when #Kissinger demanded the release of all #AmericanPOWs in North Vietnam once a peace agreement was signed, but offered no guarantees about #VietCong prisoners being held in South Vietnam.

Thọ stated: "I cannot accept your proposal. I completely reject it".
Thọ wanted the release of all prisoners once a peace agreement was signed, which led Kissinger to say this was an unreasonable demand. Thọ, who had been tortured as a young man by the French colonial police for advocating Vietnamese independence, shouted:
"You have never been a prisoner. You don't understand suffering. It's unfair".

Kissinger finally offered that the United States would use "maximum influence" to pressure the South Vietnamese government to release all Viet Cong prisoners within sixty days of a peace agreement being signed. On 23 January 1973, at 12:45 pm, Kissinger and Thọ signed the peace agreement.