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South Korea–Vietnam relations

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Bilateral relations
South Korea – Vietnam relations
Map indicating locations of South Korea and Vietnam

South Korea
Vietnam
Diplomatic mission
South Korean embassy, HanoiVietnamese embassy, Seoul

South Korea and Vietnam established formal diplomatic relations on 22 December 1992, though the two countries had already had various historical contacts long before that. According to Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải, "The Republic of Korea is a very important partner of Vietnam and a good model for Vietnam to expand cooperation and exchange experiences during its development process." On 2022, South Korea and Vietnam upgraded their relationship in to "comprehensive strategic partnership", became the fourth country after China, Russia and India to do so.

Country comparison

Official name Republic of Korea Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Flag South Korea Vietnam
Coat of Arms Emblem of South Korea Emblem of Vietnam
Anthem Aegukga Tiến Quân Ca
Capital city Seoul Hanoi
Largest city Seoul – 9,384,325 (26,020,029 Metro) Ho Chi Minh City – 9,320,866 (21,281,639 Metro)
Head of Government Yoon Suk Yeol Phạm Minh Chính
Economic Development Developed country Developing country
Official language Korean Vietnamese
Population 52,081,799 100,309,200
GDP (nominal) $1.761 trillion $465.814 billion
GDP (nominal) per capita $34,165 $4,623
GDP (PPP) per capita $59,330 $15,470
GDP (PPP) $3.058 trillion $1.559 trillion
HDI 0.929 0.726
Currency South Korean won Vietnamese dong

History

In ancient times, Korea and Vietnam were within the Sinosphere and share the same Confucian ethical philosophy. Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn (857-?), a Silla official wrote "borders of Jiaozhi" and the Protectorate of Annam. Semi-official encounters regularly happened when envoys from both countries met in Beijing.

Bilateral relations
South Korea – South Vietnam relations
Map indicating locations of South Korea and South Vietnam

South Korea
South Vietnam
Diplomatic mission
South Korean embassy, SaigonSouth Vietnamese embassy, Seoul

The last remaining survivors of the Lý dynasty had fled to Korea following Trần Thủ Độ's total massacre of the Lý family. One of famous Lý survivors was Lý Long Tường, who later helped to defeat the Mongol invasions of Korea. During the First Indochina War, South Korea had recognized the State of Vietnam while North Korea had recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Vietnam War

The areas of responsibility of the South Korean army in Vietnam as of December 1966
Further information: Military history of South Korea during the Vietnam War

Both North and South Korea lent material and manpower support to their respective ideological allies during the Vietnam War, though the number of South Korean troops on the ground was larger. Then-South Korean president Syngman Rhee had offered to send troops to Vietnam as early as 1954, but his proposal was turned down by the U.S. Department of State; the first South Korean personnel to land in Vietnam, 10 years later, were non-combatants: ten Taekwondo instructors, along with thirty-four officers and ninety-six enlisted men of a Korean Army hospital unit.

In total, between 1965 and 1973, 312,853 South Korean soldiers fought in Vietnam; Vietnam's Ministry of Culture and Communications in an unofficial investigation estimated they killed 41,400 enemy fighters and 5,000 civilians. After the Vietnam war, there were thousands of children of mixed Korean and Vietnamese descent, called Lai Dai Han, born of Korean workers or soldiers and local Vietnamese. Reportedly, many resulted from widespread "My Lai-style massacres" that involved the rape of Vietnamese Women by South Korean soldiers. Various civil society groups continue to hope for a formal investigation and apology into these events.

In 2001, South Korean president Kim Dae-jung expressed his sorrow that Korea had unintentionally inflicted pain upon the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. He also promised to continue supporting Vietnamese development.

As stated by Vietnamese president Trần Đức Lương in 2004:

Nevertheless, with the tradition of tolerance, humanity and peace and friendship, Vietnam's policy in dealing with issues left behind by history is to put aside the past, look forward to the future and cooperate for shared development. The ROK also shares the understanding that sincere and effective cooperation with Vietnam in addressing the consequences of the war is a matter of morality and a practical way to overcome the complex about the past. We highly appreciate the fact that the ROK's Government, mass organizations and individuals have carried out many activities aimed at and made concrete contributions to helping Vietnam's reconstruction and development efforts. In just over 10 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Vietnam and the ROK have become each other's important partner. The two countries share cultural and historical similarities well as that of national construction built on people's creativeness.

In 2009, South Korea and Vietnam agreed to lift the bilateral relationship to the “comprehensive partnership”. In 2003, readers of South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh, which ran a series of articles exposing atrocities committed by South Korean troops during the war, donated over US$100,000 to set up a memorial park and peace museum in Phú Yên Province. Former South Korean soldiers such as Ahn Junghyo and Hwang Sok-yong have also written novels about their experiences in Vietnam.

In 2017, Moon Jae-in apologised vaguely to Vietnam, although the issue was minimized by the Vietnamese media and South Korean media as it wasn't seen as an official apology, and South Korean civil groups and individuals have also taken a pro-active effort in reconciliation.

In 2023, a South Korean court ruled in favor of a Vietnamese victim of South Korean atrocities during the war and ordered that the South Korean government compensate the surviving victim. In response, the South Korean government, via its President Yoon Suk-Yeol, repeated its earlier denials of the atrocities, and the South Korean government later announced its appeal of the decision. This strained relations with Vietnam, as a spokesperson for Vietnam's foreign ministry called South Korea's repeated denials "extremely regrettable".

ROKS Cheonan sinking

In the aftermath of the controversial 2006 North Korean nuclear test, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Dzung expressed the Vietnamese Government's grave concern over the test, stating that it will heighten tensions and threaten the region's stability, and stated that Vietnam supports the "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula. After the ROKS Cheonan sinking of 2010, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said: "The sinking of Cheonan is a regrettable incident. The Government of Vietnam expresses its heart-felt condolences to the Government of the Republic of Korea for the loss of lives in the sinking. Vietnam has attentively and closely been following the current developments in the Korean Peninsula. Vietnam consistently and persistently supports peace, stability in the Korean Peninsula, and favors dialogue for peaceful settlement of all matters. Vietnam wishes that parties concerned could exercise restraint for the sake of peace, stability in the Korean Peninsula and in the region."

Trade and investment

Banner in Hanoi celebrating the 25 years of diplomatic ties

Four years after the 1992 normalisation of diplomatic ties, South Korea was already annually conducting $1.3 billion of trade with Vietnam, making them Vietnam's third-largest trading partner; they were also the fourth-largest foreign investor after Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong, having put $1.987 billion into Vietnam. The pace of their investment roughly doubled over the next ten years; in the first five months of 2006, new South Korean investment in Vietnam totalled to around $400 million, and roughly one thousand Korean companies had operations in the country.

Currently, South Korea is Vietnam's third largest export market, as well as its largest foreign investor, with its accumulative registered capital reaching $78.5 billion USD. South Korean Electronics conglomerate Samsung has invested $18 billion USD into Vietnam and has promised to invest more in the future.

South Korean company

As of 2021, there were approximately 9,000 South Korean companies operating in Vietnam, representing 18.5% of Vietnam's total FDI capital.

Samsung

Samsung has entered the Vietnamese market in 1996. Samsung has six factories across Vietnam. They are creating jobs for hundreds of thousands of the country's workers. As of 2020, Samsung accounted for 25 percent of Vietnam's gross domestic product.

LG Electronics

LG Electronics has three factories in Vietnam.

Lotte

Since 1996, Lotte has entered Vietnam, After CJ Group be a 2nd South Korean Groups Landing in Vietnam, The Conventional Parts with subsidiaries such as Lotte Mart, Lotte Cinema (Also Subsidiary as Lotte Entertainment for Distributed Korean Movie for own Productions and Another Productions from Korea and Selected Films Around the World, Established in 2011, This Distribution also Productions for Vietnamese Film), Lotteria, and Lotte Center.

CJ

CJ Vietnam Branch is Established in 2004, The Subsidiaries as Entertainment (CJ CGV, CJ 4DPLEX, CJ PowerCast, CJ ENM (Distribution for Own Productions, Other Korean Movies and Independent Films Distribution, also Productions Localized Originals Films by CJ HK Entertainment, And CJ ENM For International Sales for Vietnamese Movie outside of Vietnam, Except Film Distribution and Productions, CJ ENM Also Producted Dramas, Variety Shows direct by CJ ENM Other Channels as well as Korean Production), CJ Food (CJ CheilJedang, CJ Foodville, CJ Freshway), Biology (CJ CheilJedang Bio Div, CJ Feed&Care), Logistics and Retail (CJ Logistics, CJ Logistics E&C Div., CJ OliveYoung, CJ OliveNetworks, CJ ENM COMMERCE Div.)

Movement of people

As of 2009 there are nearly a hundred thousand each of Koreans in Vietnam and Vietnamese people in South Korea.

Tourism

See also: Tourism in South Korea and Tourism in Vietnam

As of 2018, South Korean tourists accounted for 3,485,406 tourists in Vietnam, second only to China (4,966,468 tourists). Flights from South Korea accounted for a remarkable 44.5 per cent of the country's inbound traffic in 2018. Da Nang, and Hoi An are the top destinations that South Korean Tourists visit.

Diplomatic missions

Of Vietnam
Of South Korea

Vietnamese Ambassadors to South Korea

South Vietnam Ambassadors to South Korea
  1. Dương Văn Đức (1956–1957, Minister)
  2. Nguyễn Quí Anh (1957–1964, Chargé d'affaires)
  3. Ngô Tôn Đạt (1964–1966, Chargé d'affaires)
  4. Ngô Tôn Đạt (1966–1967)
  5. Đỗ Cao Trí (1967–1968)
  6. Đặng Ngọc Diêu (1968–1969, Chargé d'affaires)
  7. Phạm Xuân Chiểu (1969–1975, until the Fall of Saigon)
Vietnam Ambassadors to South Korea
  1. Nguyễn Phú Bình (1993–1997)
  2. Nguyễn Văn Xương (1997–2001)
  3. Dương Chính Thức (2001–2005)
  4. Phạm Tiến Vân (2005–2010)
  5. Trần Trọng Toàn (2010–2013)
  6. Phạm Hữu Chí (2013–2017)
  7. Nguyễn Vũ Tú (2017–2020)
  8. Nguyễn Vũ Tùng (2020–2024)
  9. Vũ Hồ (2024–present)

On 2023 June, then South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Vietnam at the invitation of then Vietnamese President Võ Văn Thưởng, aimed at improving bilateral ties related to economic and other issues.

See also

References

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  2. RoK, Viet Nam's important partner, says PM 14-06-2006. Government of Vietnam (mofa.gov.vn)
  3. "Vietnam, South Korea uplift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership - VnExpress International".
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  8. ^ Kagan, Richard C. (October 2000), "Disarming Memories: Japanese, Korean, and American Literature on the Vietnam War", Critical Asian Studies, 32 (4), archived from the original on 2008-12-01, retrieved 2008-12-02
  9. Griffiths, James. "The 'forgotten' My Lai: South Korea's Vietnam War massacres". CNN. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  10. "About Us (Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation)". Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  11. "Kim Dae-jung Holds Talks With Vietnam Leader" August 24, 2001. People's Daily
  12. President Tran Duc Luong’s interview 11-11-2004. Vietnam Government (mofa.gov.vn)
  13. Vietnam, RoK strengthen strategic partnership Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine 10/19/2009. VOICE OF VIETNAM
  14. Arthurs, Clare (2003-01-21), "South Koreans atone for Vietnam War", BBC News, retrieved 2007-03-27
  15. "Moon's apology ignored in Vietnam". The Korea Times. 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
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  17. "South Korea appeals court ruling to compensate Vietnam war victim". Reuters. 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  18. "On the nuclear test conducted by the People Democratic Republic of Korea on October 9, 2006". Retrieved 2006-10-09.
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  28. VnExpress. "South Korean president's visit 'a milestone,' says Party chief - VnExpress International". VnExpress International – Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
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  31. VnExpress. "South Korea's Yoon starts Vietnam visit - VnExpress International". VnExpress International – Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
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