By Lee Hana and Kim Young Shin

Korea and Vietnam’s ministries of defense officially announced a joint cooperative vision on April 23.

Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo held a meeting with the Vietnamese National Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich at his Seoul offices and signed a joint vision statement, which seeks to promote cooperation on all fields of national defense and the defense industries, such as personnel exchanges between high-level military officials, education & training and ocean security.

“President Moon Jae-in visited Vietnam last March and emphasized the importance of promoting comprehensive cooperation between our two countries,” said Minister Song. "We will work continuously on boosting collaboration with Vietnam on national defense and the defense industry.”

“Korea will also work together with Vietnam on peace across the ASEAN region at the ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting (ADMM-Plus).”

The two parties agreed to continue to expand cooperation at multilateral meetings, too, such as at the ADMM-Plus and the Asia Security Summit.

Vietnam is one of Korea’s four major trade and investment partners, and a core companion for its “New Southern Policy.” That aims to expand Korea’s diplomatic and economic reach to ASEAN and beyond, into the Indian Ocean. The two countries both hope that bilateral trade will top USD 100 billion by 2020.

hlee10@korea.kr