South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is on a state visit to Vietnam from June 22 to 24. On this occasion, Professor Choe Won-gi, Dean of the Department of ASEAN-India Studies, Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), gave an interview about the visit, changes in bilateral relations and some priorities for cooperation at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

Commenting on the possibility of President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Vietnam creating changes in bilateral relations, Professor Choe Won-gi said that the visit is very meaningful because Vietnam is the first Southeast Asian country that President Yoon Suk Yeol visited after taking office. This shows the very important position of Vietnam for Korea.

Professor, Doctor of Political Science Choe Won-gi answers questions from VNA reporters. Photo: VNA

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations late last year, Vietnam and South Korea agreed to upgrade their bilateral relations to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” – the highest level of bilateral relations that Vietnam currently has. Over the past 30 years, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral cooperation has been very successful, with Vietnam becoming one of South Korea’s most important economic partners. Leading Korean companies such as Samsung and LG are operating very large-scale factories in Vietnam.

Economic cooperation has been very successful, but based on the results achieved, Professor Choe Won-gi said that it is necessary to prepare for the future, to upgrade and deepen the areas of cooperation. Currently, the most important thing is that Vietnam and Korea need to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership, on that basis, move from a purely economic partnership to a comprehensive partnership, including all areas, such as strategic relations in diplomacy and socio-economics.

According to Professor Choe Won-gi, if viewed from a strategic perspective, Korea and Vietnam have a very high level of intertwined interests, sharing many common interests in the fields of economy, security, and even socio-economics. About 9,500 Korean factories are operating in Vietnam and about 200,000 Koreans are living in Vietnam and a similar number of Vietnamese are living in Korea, so the level of cultural and social cohesion is very high.

Therefore, the two sides have a very solid foundation and for Korea, Vietnam is an important partner in trade exchange, accounting for about half of Korea's trade turnover with the entire Southeast Asian region. In terms of strategic interests, the two countries have very similar strategic interests. The Korean professor expressed optimism about the future of bilateral relations and the visit of the Korean President to Vietnam this time could create a catalyst for the development of bilateral relations in the future.

Regarding what needs to be done to implement the results achieved and the priority areas to be implemented after the visit, Professor Choe Won-gi said that the bilateral relationship is very successful, both Korea and Vietnam should prioritize the next phase of cooperation in the comprehensive strategic partnership to overcome the limitations of purely economic cooperation. The two sides need to expand the areas of cooperation from economics, trade and investment to diplomacy, defense and industrial technology cooperation.

According to the Professor, Vietnam has been very successful in economic development, but to achieve higher economic growth rates, Vietnam needs to upgrade its industrial base, for example in high value-added industries such as high-tech industries and industries serving the fourth industrial revolution. In this regard, Korea can support Vietnam's economy to take off and move to a more industrialized economic stage. Korea and Vietnam should cooperate more closely to create a stable external environment for development, including some areas where cooperation should be strengthened such as:

In the economic field, both Korea and Vietnam have previously focused on labor-intensive industries, and now need to shift to more intellectually demanding industries such as electronics, heavy industry, semiconductor technology, and IT. In these areas, the way of cooperation needs to be adjusted, focusing on digital transformation, energy transformation, and building a more modern industrial base.

In terms of strategic and diplomatic cooperation, it is difficult to say that the strategic and security cooperation between the two countries is very strong. Therefore, this is the next frontier that the two countries should cross to jointly deal with the erosion of the institutions of the international order based on rules, the increasingly fierce strategic competition between major powers, the increasingly deteriorating international trade system and the strategic environment. First of all, it is necessary to further deepen cooperation in strategic and security areas related to the regional security environment, and consider areas where they can work together to improve each country's strategic environment.

An important area of ​​cooperation is maritime security, which includes the South China Sea and the broader Indo-Pacific region. South Korea under President Yoon Suk Yeol has announced a new foreign policy strategy for the Indo-Pacific region and a specific policy towards ASEAN called the “Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI)”. In this new initiative, Vietnam is a key partner and among the areas of cooperation, maritime security is a specific area where both sides should work together.

Another important area where both sides need to strengthen cooperation is the defense industry. Vietnam is currently actively diversifying its arms supply sources. In this area, South Korea is a good partner, whose strength is effective and cost-effective military equipment. South Korea is the number one military equipment supplier to countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia.

Overall, what needs to be done is to outline a very specific roadmap to implement the agreement between the two countries’ leaders on upgrading relations to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”. Through that, cooperation between the two countries can achieve substantial progress, deepen and expand the scope of cooperation, not only in the economic field but also in the fields of diplomacy, security and other strategic areas.

Assessing the recommendation from experts that South Korea and Vietnam should expand bilateral cooperation regionally and internationally under the “2+1” model, Professor Choe Won-gi stated that the two countries have the capacity to pursue a cooperation model with 2, 3 or 4 participating parties, mentioning some partners such as North Korea, the US and Japan.

In addition, Professor Choe Won-gi said that Vietnam is currently a key member of ASEAN, Korea is planning to upgrade the Korea-ASEAN relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and Vietnam is currently the coordinator of Korea-ASEAN relations, so the two sides have many important intertwined interests.

Professor Choe Won-gi affirmed that the two sides need to cooperate for this common goal and expressed optimism about Vietnam's development prospects and its future diplomatic position, not only in the ASEAN region but also in the international arena, and considered this very good news for Korea.

VNA