1. The Seventh Meeting of Directors-General for Consular Affairs between the Republic of Korea and Vietnam took place in Seoul on July 29, with Ahn Young-jip, the Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs, and Nguyen Huu Trang, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Consular Affairs, as heads of their respective delegations. In the Meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral consular issues, including the protection of the two countries’ nationals staying in each other’s countries, cooperation on immigration affairs, and issues concerning laborers and international marriages.

2. The ROK side asked the Vietnamese government to actively support the ROK’s efforts to promptly deal with accidents and incidents involving ROK nationals staying in Vietnam. To that end, the ROK delegation proposed that a hotline be established between the ROK diplomatic mission in Vietnam and relevant Vietnamese authorities and that consular access be granted in a swift manner when such accidents happen. The Vietnamese delegation responded that it would review ways to improve the relevant system proposed by the ROK side.

3. The two sides exchanged views on Vietnam’s visa waiver policy, its problems and ways to improve it. They agreed to make joint efforts to streamline the visa processes and improve the immigration procedures.

4. The two sides also discussed issues involving international marriages and the child abduction arising from multicultural families.  In addition, they discussed ways to strengthen labor cooperation, including streamlining the process of granting work and residence permits to ROK nationals in Vietnam.

5. The two sides agreed to hold the eighth meeting in Vietnam at a mutually convenient time.

                Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation