Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse will pay an official visit to South Korea from June 30 to July 3, at the invitation from South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and his wife.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Photo: Nhat Bac

Vietnam and South Korea established diplomatic relations on December 22, 1992. The two countries upgraded their relationship to a Strategic Cooperative Partnership in October 2009 and then to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022. They have become key partners for each other, regularly exchanging high-level delegations and maintaining numerous security and defense dialogue mechanisms.

Ahead of the visit, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, remarked that over the past 30 years, South Korea and Vietnam have developed a model of cooperation that ranks among the best in the world. He highlighted that the relationship between the two countries is flourishing, with both nations becoming significant trading partners, achieving nearly $100 billion in bilateral trade.

He expressed his hope that Prime Minister Chinh’s visit to South Korea will further strengthen political trust and deepen the strategic cooperation between South Korea and Vietnam, solidifying their status as leading partners in the region.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bilateral trade in 2023 reached $76.1 billion. In the first four months of this year, the total import-export turnover between the two countries was $25.5 billion, a 4% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

In terms of direct investment, as of April, South Korea is the largest investor with 9,957 projects and a total registered capital exceeding $87 billion.

Vietnam is South Korea's top priority partner for ODA support. In recent years, South Korea's annual aid to Vietnam has exceeded $500 million, of which 90% is ODA loans and 10% is non-refundable aid.

The two countries also cooperate in other areas such as labor, science and technology, consular affairs, and local cooperation. The Vietnamese community living and working in South Korea numbers over 250,000 people, while the South Korean community in Vietnam exceeds  150,000.

In 2023, the number of South Korean tourists to Vietnam reached 3.6 million, while over 500,000 Vietnamese tourists visited South Korea. In the first four months of this year, South Korea was the largest source of international visitors to Vietnam, with 1.6 million arrivals, accounting for 25.8% of the total international arrivals to Vietnam.