President Yoon Suk Yeol (third from left) and first lady Kim Keon Hee (fourth from left) on June 22 speak at a dialogue with Vietnamese students of the Korean language at Vietnam National University in Hanoi.

By Jung Joo-ri
Photo and video = Office of the President

President Yoon Suk Yeol, on a three-day state visit to Vietnam, on June 22 said, "The Korean government feels a sense of responsibility for (Vietnam's) fervor for studying Korean and will reciprocate."

Presidential spokesperson Lee Do Woon said in a news release, "President Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee in the afternoon of this day took part in 'Dialogue with Vietnamese Learners of Korean' at Vietnam National University, Hanoi."

Under the theme "Our Dream of Growing Up via Korean" (unofficial translation), the event was attended by around 70 people including students of Korean and staff from related educational institutions.

"Over 30 years have passed since Korea and Vietnam formed diplomatic relations and became friends," the president said. "The two countries have shared a lot of potential, collaborated in economy and industry, and greatly contributed to mutual development and growth through our friendship and cooperation."

"I heard that the fever in Vietnam for learning Korean is strong, and after coming here, listening to explanations and seeing textbooks, what I heard isn't different from reality," he added. "As the person running the Republic of Korea government, I feel a major responsibility to reciprocate everyone's enthusiasm."

Those attending included students from elementary, middle and high school and college as well as workers and each of them described their dreams and plans in Korean. 

Among them were a high school student planning to study in Korea to become an artificial intelligence developer, a college student majoring in Korean whose dream is to become a Korean-Vietnamese interpreter and translator, and an information and communications technology employee who earned a Korean government scholarship this year.

After listening to the attendees, the first lady said, "I felt very close to them not just because they spoke Korean well but the sentiment of what they said reminded me of Koreans."

Before the event, the presidential couple held a meeting with the university's president Le Quan and Vietnamese Minister of Education Nguyen Kim Son. 

President Yoon thanked the school for helping arrange the event. "I'm glad to visit Vietnam National University, Hanoi, the top school in Vietnam," he said. "We will provide full government support for exchanges of students and scholars between Korea and Vietnam."