Vietnam is expected to continue a push for closer relations with South Korea under its re-elected leader, Seoul's top envoy here said Wednesday.
Amb. Jun Dae-joo said the new line-up of other top officials also heralds that the two sides will upgrade bilateral ties by a notch.
Last week, the Communist Party of Vietnam chose Nguyen Phu Trong, the incumbent general secretary, as the country's top leader for a second five-year term.
It named Tran Dai Quang, minister of public security, as the nation's new president. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was promoted to the post of prime minister.
It's hard to define whether Vietnam's leadership is pro-China or pro-U.S. as it has traditionally pursued pragmatism.
"In terms of relations with South Korea, however, it can be said that they all are pro-South Korea psychologically," Jun told Yonhap News Agency.
He recalled Trong's trip to Seoul in 2014, during which he visited Samsung Electronics.
At that time, Trong made clear that Vietnam places importance on its relations with South Korea, the largest investor in the Southeast Asian country.
"He also later instructed his government to pay more heed to South Korea," the ambassador said.
Quang, nominated to become the nation's new president, recently established the "Korea Desk" within the Vietnamese police to specialize in crimes against Koreans while serving as minister of public security, according to Jun.
"Vietnam is in forward-looking, substantive cooperative partnerships with South Korea, while maintaining traditional friendly ties," he said, raising the need for Seoul and Hanoi to deepen bilateral relations in economy, national security and other fields.
A bilateral free trade agreement took effect late last year.
"Vietnam's position is that it would support South Korea if it wants to participate in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)," said the envoy who assumed the post in 2013.
He had run businesses in Vietnam for 18 years. (Yonhap)