South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his spouse Kim Keon Hee arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Thursday morning, starting the first official visit of his tenure to Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong.

His visit is set to wrap up on Saturday, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vietnam is also the first Southeast Asian country to which Yoon has paid a state visit since he took office in May last year.

Many Vietnamese officials and diplomats, including Chairman of the Presidential Office of Vietnam Le Khanh Hai, chairman of the People’s Committee of Hanoi Tran Sy Thanh, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, and Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Nguyen Vu Tung, as well as South Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Oh Young Ju, gathered at the airport to welcome the South Korean official and his entourage.

The South Korean president’s entourage includes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung Ho, Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang Yang, Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung Sik, and Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young.

Official activities for the visit will begin on Friday.

After a reception ceremony, President Thuong and President Yoon will hold talks, witness the signing of documents, and co-chair a press conference to announce the results of their talks.

President Yoon will also meet with leaders of the Vietnamese Party, government, and National Assembly during his visit.

Trade and investment are key fields of discussion during the visit.

The top South Korean official is accompanied by a 205-member business delegation, including leaders from Samsung, SK, Hyundai, and Daewoo.

The delegation is larger than any previous group accompanying President Yoon during his state visits, highlighting the fast and impressive development of cooperation between the two countries in the realms of economy, investment, and trade, according to Ambassador Oh.

Trade between Vietnam and South Korea reached some US$87 billion in 2022. They set a target to increase the figure to $100 billion this year and $150 billion by 2030.

“Current difficulties in the region and the world as a whole have hit the two economies," Oh remarked.

“As a result, the high number of South Korean enterprises accompanying President Yoon to Vietnam will open up opportunities for leaders and enterprises from the two countries to discuss new cooperation, thus boosting their investment and trade collaboration.”

Prior to his visit to Vietnam, President Yoon expressed his desire to foster cooperation with the Southeast Asian country in various sectors, including security, supply chains, and energy.

“This year initiates the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries. With such meaning, I hope my state visit to Vietnam will open a new chapter in the relations between the two countries,” President Yoon said in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnam and South Korea elevated their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in December last year.

South Korea is one of Vietnam’s most important partners, ranking first in terms of investment, second in official development aid after Japan, and third in trade after China and the U.S..

As of April this year, South Korea had had over 9,500 operational projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of nearly $82 billion.

The Northeast Asian country has been the second-largest source market of Vietnam’s tourism over the past few years, with more than 1,000 direct flights between the two nations per month.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Vietnam, 4.2 million South Koreans visited Vietnam and 550,000 Vietnamese people traveled to South Korea.

South Korea is the second-most popular destination for Vietnamese laborers, following Japan, and Vietnam is also its second-largest source of laborers, after China.

As of January this year, over 206,000 Vietnamese people were living, studying, and working in South Korea, according to news site VnExpress.

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