The State visit to Vietnam by President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife strengthened political trust, bringing cooperation areas increasingly into substance, worthy of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework.
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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a press conference announcing the upgrade of Vietnam-South Korea relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. (Photo: Nguyen Hong)
President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife paid a state visit to Vietnam from June 22-24 at the invitation of President Vo Van Thuong.
Building trust and intertwining interests
This is the first visit to Vietnam by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Vietnam is also the first Southeast Asian country he will visit after taking office in May 2022.
The visit takes place in the context of the two countries upgrading their relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022 and holding many activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (December 22, 1992 - December 22, 2022). This shows the importance attached to Vietnam in the overall foreign policy of Korea and the special nature of the bilateral relationship.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Korea Nguyen Vu Tung emphasized that the visit is primarily meant to contribute to the Vietnam-Korea relationship, which is built on two special foundations: trust and intertwined interests.
In terms of building trust, high-level visits and exchanges are always effective measures to enhance trust, first of all through personal acquaintances between senior leaders. Since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office more than a year ago, phone calls and meetings between the leaders of the two countries have been frequent. President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Vietnam is a vivid demonstration of the special importance that the Korean Government and he personally attach to the relationship between the two countries.
The event created an important milestone in the relationship between the two countries' senior leaders, thereby opening up more frequent exchanges/visits between ministries, branches, localities, businesses and people of both sides.
In terms of intertwined interests, the visit and the specific results achieved (memorandums of understanding-MoUs, agreements, contracts, action programs...) demonstrate a new height of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The visit took place in the context of Vietnam implementing the goals of the 13th National Party Congress, including the goal of developing the country into a developing country with modern industry and high average income by 2030; and becoming a developed country with high income by 2045. Regarding foreign affairs, Vietnam persistently pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of relations; promoting increasingly in-depth relations with partners, especially with strategic partners, including the Republic of Korea.
According to Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tung, welcoming President Yoon Suk Yeol's delegation shows that Vietnam highly values the special significance of Vietnam-Korea cooperation in general and the importance of this relationship in the overall national development strategy in general and Vietnam's foreign policy in particular.
The visit took place in the context of Korea achieving many important achievements in national construction and development in general and many achievements in socio-economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic in particular. Korea has become one of the 10 largest economies in the world. In terms of foreign affairs, Korea has promoted many important policies, notably the Global Key State Policy Vision (GPS), the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the ASEAN-Korea Solidarity Initiative. At the same time, Korea has registered to run for important positions in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations Security Council, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, etc.
Therefore, Vietnam's welcoming of the President of the Republic of Korea to a State visit is also a message of support and confidence in the Government and people of the Republic of Korea to successfully implement its policies and development goals in the future, contributing to peace, prosperity and stability in the region and the world.
In the context of recent complex and unpredictable geopolitical and geo-economic movements, Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tung assessed that this event further highlights the importance of Vietnam-Korea cooperation in the following areas:
First, cooperation between small and medium-sized countries in upholding international law and maintaining order based on the fundamental principles of international law. These are important foundations for protecting the interests of small and medium-sized countries as well as for these countries to contribute to strengthening peace, stability and international cooperation in the current context.
Second, enhance ASEAN's central role in building and consolidating the regional security mechanism as well as regional peace and prosperity based on Vietnam's increasing proactiveness and positivity in ASEAN, Vietnam's role as coordinator of ASEAN-Korea relations in the next two years, and Korea's increasingly prioritizing policy of cooperation with ASEAN through the Indo-Pacific strategy and ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI) recently adopted by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
Third, the participation of third parties in bilateral cooperation on issues of common interest such as the East Sea, peace and stability, cooperation on the Korean peninsula, the Mekong sub-region, building a stable supply chain, combating climate change, etc.
Thus, President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Vietnam not only demonstrates the special nature of the relationship and creates new momentum, but also contributes to expanding the space for cooperation in Vietnam-Korea relations to the regional and international levels.
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| Vietnam and South Korea will upgrade their relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
Determination from both sides
The visit of the Korean leader is a continuation of the series of delegation exchanges at all levels between the two countries after upgrading bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. This reflects the efforts to put the comprehensive strategic partnership into practice from both sides.
From the beginning of 2023 until now, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Kim Jin Pyo officially visited Vietnam (January 12-18); Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung Ho visited Vietnam (March 10); Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang visited Korea (March 26-29); Minister of Public Security To Lam visited Korea (April 5-9); Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai visited Korea (March 18-23)...
Notably, according to the announcement of the Korean Presidential Office, a delegation of 205 businesses accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol on his visit to Vietnam. This is the largest business delegation since the inauguration of President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration. The accompanying companies and businesses are from many fields such as distribution, finance, law, healthcare, information technology, and service and cultural sectors.
The economic highlight of the visit creates expectations for new developments in bilateral cooperation. It is expected that the two sides will discuss actions to overcome difficulties in the immediate period to restore trade and investment activities and anticipate the economic recovery wave in the second half of 2023, especially in the fields of finance, infrastructure construction, labor, tourism, etc.
The visit is a step to concretize the eight areas of cooperation set forth in the Joint Statement when upgrading relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and at the same time demonstrates the determination of the two countries' leaders to promote relations to a new height on the basis of the great achievements of 30 years of bilateral relations.
On the basis of effectively implementing the high-level agreements reached by the two countries during this visit, we believe that the relationship between the two countries will increasingly develop, with a comprehensive and strategic nature in the coming time, as President Vo Van Thuong wished in his invitation letter to President Yoon Suk Yeol: "I wish to discuss with you specific measures to promote the development of the relationship between the two countries more strongly, substantially and comprehensively in the coming time."
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