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| The people of Pyongyang (North Korea) warmly welcomed President Ho Chi Minh, who led the Vietnamese Party and Government delegation on a friendly visit to the DPRK from July 8-12, 1957. (Source: VNA) |
Ambassador, could you elaborate on the significance of General Secretary To Lam's state visit to North Korea and his attendance at the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea?
At the invitation of the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam will make a state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and attend the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea from October 9-11. This high-level visit holds significant importance, specifically:
Firstly, this is General Secretary To Lam's first visit to North Korea in his capacity as General Secretary and the first visit by a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to North Korea in 18 years since General Secretary Nong Duc Manh's visit in 2007.
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| Vietnamese Ambassador to DPRK Le Ba Vinh. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea) |
Secondly, the visit takes place as Vietnam and North Korea are celebrating the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Year, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations (January 31, 1950 - January 31, 2025). This is a vivid testament to the traditional friendship between the two countries in this special year.
The visit gains further significance as General Secretary To Lam, along with senior North Korean leaders, will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Ho Chi Minh statue in the courtyard of the Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea. President Ho Chi Minh laid the foundation for Vietnam-North Korea relations, making this event not only a symbol of cultural-political significance but also a vivid demonstration of the enduring friendship between the two Parties, States, and peoples.
The Ho Chi Minh statue will become a historical landmark, contributing to educating future generations of both countries about the beautiful tradition of Vietnam-North Korea friendship.
Thirdly, the visit occurs at a pivotal time for each Party, each country, and bilateral relations. Vietnam has successfully organized major events in 2025, such as the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification, the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution, and the 80th National Day on September 2. Vietnam is striving to achieve the goals set by the 13th Party Congress, summarizing 40 years of renovation, and preparing for the 14th Congress.
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| General Secretary, President To Lam receives the Ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to Vietnam Ri Sung Guk to present credentials in August 2024. (Source: VNA) |
At this time, North Korea is preparing activities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (October 10, 1945 - October 10, 2025), accelerating the completion of the goals set by the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, and preparing for the 9th Congress.
Therefore, the visit is a gesture of gratitude from Vietnam to international friends, including North Korea, for their selfless contributions and companionship with the Party, State, and people of Vietnam in the process of building and defending the country.
Fourthly, the visit takes place amid positive developments in Vietnam-North Korea relations. Following North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un's official friendly visit to Vietnam in March 2019, this state visit to North Korea by General Secretary To Lam will mark a significant milestone, elevating the traditional Vietnam-North Korea friendship to a new level.
The visit is an opportunity for key leaders of the two Parties and countries to engage in in-depth discussions, identify major directions and measures to effectively and substantively promote bilateral relations, in line with the aspirations of the peoples of both countries, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
Implementing an independent, self-reliant, multi-faceted foreign policy, strengthening relations with traditional friends, including North Korea, the visit reaffirms the Party and State of Vietnam's policy of valuing the traditional Vietnam-North Korea friendship established by President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Kim Il Sung, nurtured by generations of leaders and peoples of both countries.
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| General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong holds talks with the Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un during his official friendly visit to Vietnam in March 2019. (Source: VGP) |
Ambassador, could you reflect on the Vietnam-North Korea relationship over the past 75 years and provide insights into the current cooperation between the two countries?
On January 31, 1950, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea officially established diplomatic relations.
North Korea was one of the first three countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, following China and the Soviet Union, shortly after President Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (January 14, 1950) expressed the desire to establish relations with other countries. In 1955, Vietnam opened an embassy in Pyongyang, and North Korea established an embassy in Hanoi.
Over the past 75 years, the traditional Vietnam-North Korea friendship has been valued by the two Parties, States, and peoples, continuously strengthened and developed. Both sides have maintained mutual support and assistance in their respective struggles for national liberation and socialist construction.
During the resistance war against the United States, North Korea supported Vietnam both materially and spiritually, providing equipment and machinery, training students and interns, passing resolutions of the Workers' Party of Korea in support of Vietnam's struggle to protect the North and liberate the South (October 1966), sending pilots to Vietnam, establishing a Committee to Support Vietnam, and naming schools, factories, and cooperatives after heroes Nguyen Van Troi and Le Van Tam.
Recognizing and establishing ambassador-level diplomatic relations with the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam early on, North Korea allowed Vietnam to establish a permanent representative office of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in Pyongyang from 1966 and a permanent ambassador-level representative office of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam from 1969, while providing full operational and living expenses for the representative office of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and later the embassy of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam until the end of 1975. For its part, since the war, the Vietnamese people have supported the North Korean people with tens of thousands of tons of rice.
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| Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front attends a reception on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (October 10, 1945 - October 10, 2025) on October 2. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
The two countries have conducted numerous exchange activities, most notably President Ho Chi Minh's official friendly visit to North Korea in 1957; Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and North Korean Prime Minister Kim Il Sung's official friendly visit to Vietnam in 1958; Prime Minister Pham Van Dong's visit to North Korea in 1961 (during which the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation); Chairman Kim Il Sung's unofficial visit to Vietnam in 1964; Chairman of the State Council Vo Chi Cong's official visit to North Korea in 1988; President Tran Duc Luong's official visit to North Korea in 2002; General Secretary Nong Duc Manh's official friendly visit to North Korea in 2007, and now General Secretary To Lam's state visit to North Korea.
The two countries have signed numerous important agreements, such as the Cultural Cooperation Agreement (1957), the Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement (1958), the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1961), the Trade and Maritime Agreement (1962), the Mutual Health Agreement (1966), the Civil Aviation Transport Cooperation Agreement (1977), the Maritime Transport Agreement (2002), the Trade Agreement (2002), the Judicial Assistance Agreement (2002), the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (2002), and the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (2002).
Both sides maintain the Vietnam-North Korea Intergovernmental Committee on Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation mechanism (the most recent meeting was the 9th session held in November 2014 in Hanoi).
Cooperation in culture and sports between Vietnam and North Korea has been actively maintained and has left many marks. Since 2013, every two years, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam has sent art troupes to participate in the April Spring Friendship Art Festival in Pyongyang; during North Korea's border closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam still participated by sending recorded performances.
Numerous cultural and sports exchange activities have been organized, contributing to enhancing understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. Notable examples include the Vietnamese National Art Troupe's friendly performance in North Korea (April 2019); the Vietnamese martial arts delegation's visit and performance in North Korea (September 2019); Hanoi Football Club and the Vietnamese weightlifting delegation competing in North Korea (October 2019); the North Korean Taekwon-Do delegation visiting Vietnam for exchanges and performances on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Year (April 2025).
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| North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui (center) attends the ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea in March 2025. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea) |
In various fields, agricultural cooperation stands out. Vietnamese agricultural experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Institute of Agricultural Genetics, the Institute of Food Crops, and the Mekong Delta Rice Institute have assisted North Korean agricultural experts with advanced techniques in rice breeding and cultivation, especially salt-tolerant rice breeding techniques.
It can be affirmed that the traditional Vietnam-North Korea friendship has continued to be strengthened and developed in recent years, marked by North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un's official friendly visit to Vietnam (March 1-2, 2019).
During the visit, the leaders of the two countries agreed to enhance high-level visits and contacts, expand exchanges and delegation exchanges at all levels through Party, State, and people's organizations in a practical and effective manner to enhance mutual understanding and share experiences in areas of mutual interest. The leaders of the two countries agreed to maintain regular and effective dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, including the Deputy Foreign Minister-level policy exchange mechanism and the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, exploring mutually beneficial cooperation in areas suitable to each side's capabilities and needs, based on international regulations, expanding cultural, artistic, sports, and people-to-people exchanges.
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea closed its borders for pandemic prevention, temporarily interrupting exchanges and delegation exchanges between the two countries. However, both sides have maintained exchanges and contacts through diverse and flexible forms on important occasions for each country.
Most recently, General Secretary, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea Kim Jong Un, Prime Minister Pak Thae Song, and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui sent congratulatory messages on Vietnam's 80th National Day (September 2). General Secretary To Lam, President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and Acting Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung also sent congratulatory messages to their North Korean counterparts on the occasion of North Korea's 77th National Day (September 9).
On the Party channel, relations between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Workers' Party of Korea continue to be maintained, playing a strategic guiding role in the overall development of bilateral relations. As a result, the relations between the two countries have remained positive. North Korea highly appreciates and thanks Vietnam for maintaining the operation of the Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea at the ambassadorial level, even as many countries closed their representative offices and withdrew staff, and a few countries maintained their representative offices only at the chargé d'affaires level during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In March 2024, Kim Song Nam, an alternate member of the Politburo and head of the International Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, visited and worked in Vietnam, officially resuming bilateral exchange activities after more than four years of interruption due to the pandemic.
Subsequently, the Deputy Foreign Minister-level policy exchange session between the two Foreign Ministries was resumed after eight years with a visit to North Korea and participation in the meeting by Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu (October 21-26, 2024). Both sides discussed measures to promote substantive bilateral relations, meeting the needs of both countries and in accordance with international law.
The state visit and attendance at the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea by General Secretary To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation will be a significant milestone in the Friendship Year, contributing to elevating the traditional Vietnam-North Korea friendship to a new level.
Thank you very much, Ambassador!
