In the ensuing power vacuum, Phetsarath moved to unite the southern provinces of Laos with Luang Phrabang. Shortly thereafter however, on 28 August 1945, Japan surrendered.

On 8 April 1945 King Sisavang Vong had declared–under Japanese pressure and at the urging of Phetsarath–that his kingdom was no longer a French protectorate. In March 1945 Japan overthrew the French rule in all of Indochina, including Laos. From 1941 to 1945, Phetsarath attempted to supplant officials in Laos and Vietnam, but in the regions of Vietnam, the resistance from the local proletariat was too strong.

He was the Prime Minister of Luang Phrabang, beginning in August 1941, ascending in prominence under the promises for power from Japan. Phetsarath played a dominant role in Lao politics before and after the Japanese occupation. Good-luck charms of Prince Phetsarath, whom many Lao believe possessed magical powers, are widely sold in Laos today Japanese occupation and Lao Issara: 1941-1957 He set up rules to reward, reassign, and promote deserving civil servants, and created the judicial system, including civil and penal codes. He created the Institute of Law and Administration to train entry level officers (Samien) who would then move up the ladder as Phouxouei, Chao Meuang, and Chao Khoueng successively. Phetsarath reorganized the administrative system of the Buddhist clergy, and established a system of schools for educating monks in Pali. He established the system of ranks and titles of the civil service, promotion and pension plans, and created a Lao consultative assembly, reorganized the king's Advisory Council. That same year he was named Director of Indigenous Affairs of Laos operating under the French governor in Laos.Īs the country's last uparaja, he became a leading figure of modern Laos. In 1919 he received the title of Somdeth Chao Ratsaphakhinay, a title held by his father and one of the highest ranks in the country. Two years later he was promoted to assistant secretary to the French governor.

In 1914, he became a clerk at the Office of the French governor in Vientiane. He returned to Laos in 1912, married Princess Nhin Kham Venne in 1913, and started working as an interpreter for his father. Phetsarath went to study at the colonial Lycée Chasseloup-Laubat in Saigon and continued on in 1905 at the Lycée Montaigne and to the École coloniale in Paris. Luang Phrabang became a French protectorate in 1893.

Bounkong's eleventh wife was the mother of Souphanouvong. One of his younger brothers was Souvanna Phouma. Phetsarath was born on 19 January 1890 in the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang, the second son of Oupahat Bounkhong and his second wife, Princess Thongsy. 1.3 Japanese occupation and Lao Issara: 1941-1957.

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