President Moon Jae-in's state visit to Vietnam shows the importance he places on the country as he pushes for stronger ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under his “New Southern Policy” unveiled last year.
Moon arrived in Hanoi Thursday for a three-day visit. It is his second visit to the country in just four months since he was there in November 2017 for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The repeated visits to Vietnam show Moon's eagerness to elevate bilateral relations to a new level, particularly on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
The state visit includes a summit with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang today. Moon started his visit by meeting the Vietnam's national football team and its Korean coach Park Hang-seo, who received a hero's welcome in Vietnam after he led the team to a second-place finish in the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship in January.
The Korea-Vietnam summit is an occasion to discuss economic cooperation and other issues for promoting bilateral relations. “Building on historic and cultural similarities and complementary economic structures, our two countries have developed a level of bilateral cooperation that can set an example for the world,” Moon said during an interview with Vietnam News Agency published just ahead of his visit.
Vietnam holds much promise for economic cooperation. Already, the two countries are indispensable trade partners of each other. Vietnam is Korea's fourth-largest trading partner, and Korea is Vietnam's second-largest. The Korea-Vietnam FTA came into effect at the end of 2015 and bilateral trade reached $63.9 billion in 2017. Korea aims to increase the figure to more than $100 billion in 2020.
Besides active trade, the two countries also enjoy strong personnel exchanges, which is one of the main reasons Moon sees Vietnam as the core of his New Southern Policy. There are about 170,000 Vietnamese nationals living in Korea, and 150,000 Koreans reside in Vietnam. There has been consistent growth in the number of students and tourists from Vietnam. In addition, cultural exchanges through the spread of Korean entertainment have brought the two countries closer.
Moon's New Southern Policy is designed to diversify Korea's diplomacy beyond the four major powers. The state visit will hopefully cultivate stronger ties with Vietnam, which is one of the fastest-growing economies of Southeast Asia.