HANOI, Vietnam —South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday that Vietnamese President To Lam pledged to support peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula while backing Seoul’s efforts to resurrect inter-Korean dialogue.
Lee held talks with Lam, who also serves as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, at the grand garden of Vietnam’s Presidential Palace in Hanoi on ways to broaden bilateral strategic cooperation across a wide range of areas.
“We, the two leaders, engaged in a wide-ranging exchange of views on ways to promote peace and stability in the region, including on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said during a joint news conference with Lam following the summit.
During the meeting, Lee said he conveyed the South Korean government’s vision for building a Korean Peninsula defined by peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity.
“General Secretary To Lam expressed high regard for our government’s sincere commitment to resuming dialogue and cooperation with North Korea and pledged to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said.
North Korea and Vietnam established diplomatic relations on Jan. 31, 1950, and have long described their ties as a traditional friendship between fellow socialist states.
Lam, Vietnam’s top-ranking leader as party chief, paid a state visit to North Korea in October last year to attend events marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party and to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Hanoi, where the Lee-Lam summit took place, also holds symbolic weight in Korean Peninsula diplomacy. The city hosted the second summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim in February 2019, a meeting aimed at advancing North Korea’s denuclearization despite its abrupt collapse.
Speaking at the news conference, Lee said the “two countries also agreed to continue close coordination and to further expand cooperation in the international arena, including at the United Nations.”
Lam said he and Lee had “a very effective and substantive meeting, during which we held in-depth discussions on the development of bilateral relations as well as matters of mutual interest, including regional and global issues.”
“We also agreed on key ways to elevate the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries to a new level.”
On the bilateral front, Lam underlined that “the two sides agreed to consolidate a new stage of mutual political trust and strategic cooperation, and to effectively implement existing consultative mechanisms and agreements.”
South Korea and Vietnam also agreed to “expand practical cooperation in key areas such as diplomacy, defense and security.”
Lam further explained that “the two sides also agreed to work closely together on nontraditional security issues and transnational crime.”
“The two sides agreed to work closely and strengthen mutual support in international and regional forums and organizations in which both countries participate and share common interests,” Lam said during the news conference through a Korean-language interpreter.
“Within the framework of ASEAN-Korea cooperation, we agreed to continue advancing cooperation in an effective manner and to promote security, economic stability and development,” Lam added.
Lam also said Lee pledged to share South Korea’s experience and provide active support for the successful hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that Vietnam plans to hold in Phu Quoc in 2027.
In his opening remarks at the expanded summit meeting, Lee also underscored the importance of strengthening the partnership “at a time when geopolitical uncertainty is rising to unprecedented levels and global competition for technological supremacy is intensifying.”
“I hope that the people, businesses and governments of our two countries will work together to turn the quantitative achievements we have built into qualitative progress and move toward a future of sustainable shared prosperity,” Lee said.
During the expanded meeting, Lam said, “Vietnam has consistently valued its relationship with South Korea.”
“Vietnam hopes to work with South Korea to promote the substantive, effective and long-term development of bilateral relations across all fields,” Lam said through a Korean-language interpreter.
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
