Vietnamese Party chief to pay state visit to South Korea

The trip will be made at the invitation of President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung and his spouse, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This will be the Party chief’s first state visit to the East Asian nation.

Vietnam and South Korea entered into a comprehensive strategic partnership in December, 2022, marking 30 years of diplomatic ties established in 1992.

The two nations have maintained a good relationship across all channels, with high-ranking exchanges continuing through various flexible forms.

South Korea is Vietnam’s biggest foreign investor, second-largest provider of official development assistance, and third-biggest trading partner.

In 2024, two-way trade reached US$81.5 billion, up 7.3 percent year on year.

Both are closely cooperating to achieve a balanced and sustainable trade target of $150 billion by 2030.

South Korea was ranked third among the most appealing destinations for Vietnamese workers in 2024.

South Korea received some 7,900 Vietnamese laborers under the Employment Permit System program last year, raising the total number of Vietnamese workers in the nation to nearly 88,000.

Some 320,000 Vietnamese people are living and working in South Korea.

As for the partnership in science and technology, the two nations agreed at the ninth meeting of the Vietnam - South Korea Joint Committee on Science and Technology cooperation in October 2023 to boost joint research starting from 2025 with a focus on six aspects, including information technology, bio-technology, climate technology, nanotechnology, digital transformation, and clean energy transition.

Besides, both are fostering their collaboration in deploying the second phase of the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology.

Many major South Korean enterprises have made investments in the Vietnam National Innovation Center such as SK Group and Samsung.

In addition, South Korea is Vietnam’s second-largest tourist source market.

In 2024, 4.6 million South Korean visitors traveled to Vietnam, while the number of Vietnamese people touring the former reached 600,000, marking the first time the people-to-people exchanges between the two nations had exceeded five million.