Korea, Vietnam to upgrade relations

President Moon Jae-in holds hands with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang after their joint press conference at the presidential palace in Hanoi, Friday. / Yonhap

By Kim Rahn

HANOI ― Korea and Vietnam agreed to upgrade their bilateral strategic cooperative partnership into a more comprehensive one, President Moon Jae-in and his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang said in a joint press announcement, Friday.

They said the two nations are key partners of each other in trade, investment, diplomacy and human exchanges. This year marks the 25th year of diplomatic ties.

Moon and Quang announced the agreements after a summit at the latter's office in Hanoi during Moon's three-day state visit to the country.

Moon said Vietnam is the center of his New Southern Policy, which aims to diversify Korea's economic partnerships beyond the United States and China by increasing trade with Southeast Asian nations.

"We decided to hold bilateral talks annually, by visiting each other's countries or having talks at multilateral meetings," Moon said.

He invited the Vietnamese president to Seoul, an offer the latter accepted.

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Moon and Quang agreed on cooperation in diplomacy, security and defense, with foreign ministers of the two nations having talks annually.

"Vietnam actively supported and welcomed South Korean government's efforts to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue peacefully and activate inter-Korean dialogue," Quang said.

"The leaders sympathized that improvement in inter-Korean relations, peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue and establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula is essential for peace and prosperity of not only the peninsula but also the world," said a joint declaration issued after the summit.

For economic cooperation, Moon and Quang agreed to expand the annual volume of trade between the two countries to $100 billion by 2020 from the current $63.9 billion.

The two nations signed six memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on trade and economic cooperation.

"The two leaders agreed the development of the two nations' relations has created reciprocal benefits and contributed to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world," the declaration said. "They also decided to continue to develop the achievement during the past 25 years into more reciprocal, active and creative cooperation, to upgrade the strategic cooperative partnership by intensifying exchanges in various fields."

Moon expressed regret over the "unfortunate history between the two countries," referring to Korean troops' participation in the Vietnam War and their alleged massacres of Vietnamese civilians. It was the first open expression of regret over the issue, while he earlier hinted at by saying: "Korea has a debt of heart to Vietnam."

He said despite the past, he hopes the two nations would make more efforts toward future-oriented cooperation.

In response, Quang said he highly recognized the Korean government's sincerity over the painful history of the Vietnam War, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official. "I hope the Korean government will make more effort to heal the past pain and strengthen cooperation and friendship between the two nations," Quang was quoted as saying.

The leaders also agreed on cooperation in education, health and welfare, energy development, agricultural industry, cultural and sports exchanges and tourism.

Later in the day, Moon also met Communist Party of Vietnam Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, discussing cooperation between the two nations.

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