Korea, Vietnam hold working-level talks on nuclear energy

President Lee Jae Myung, right, shakes hands with To Lam, secretary general of Vietnam's Communist Party, ahead of their summit at the presidential office in Seoul on Aug. 11. Yonhap

Officials from South Korea and Vietnam have held talks to discuss ways to expand trade between the two countries and deepen bilateral cooperation in the nuclear energy sector, Seoul's trade ministry said Monday.

On Monday, Seoul and Hanoi held their fourth joint working group meeting on their trade relations, where Kim Jong-chul, director general of international trade relations at the ministry, held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Do Quoc Hung, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

In the meeting, the two sides explored measures to help the two countries raise their bilateral trade volume to US$150 billion by 2030 as agreed during a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and Vietnam's top leader To Lam in Seoul last month.

They also discussed their plan to implement the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. and Vietnamese energy firm Petrovietnam to foster a workforce for Vietnam's nuclear power industry.

On Friday, the trade ministry held its first director general-level meeting with Vietnam's finance ministry to discuss pending issues between the two countries, such as the refund of value-added tax for Korean textile companies operating in Vietnam and the succession of business incentives by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. following its acquisition of Doosan Vina, the Vietnamese unit of Doosan Enerbility Co.

The ministry said it will make the director general-level meeting into a regular event to facilitate talks for the two countries' cooperation in investment, business activities, supply chains and other areas.