Party General Secretary To Lam to pay state visit to Republic of Korea
WVR - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam, his spouse, and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam will pay a state visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) from August 10 to 13, 2025.
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| Party General Secretary To Lam to pay state visit to Republic of Korea: Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse Ngo Phuong Ly. (File photo: Nguyen Hong) |
At the invitation of President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae Myung and his spouse, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam, his spouse, and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam will pay a state visit to the Republic of Korea from August 10 to 13, according to an announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 7, 2025.
Vietnam – Republic of Korea established Diplomatic Relations on December 22, 1992
In terms of politics, the two sides have maintained strong relations through all Party, Government, and National Assembly channels. High-level exchanges continue to be conducted in various flexible forms, thereby constantly reinforcing political trust.
In the areas of defense and security, delegation exchanges and dialogue mechanisms have been carried out regularly.
Regarding economic cooperation, Republic of Korea remains Vietnam’s number one investor; the second-largest source of tourists; the second-largest provider of official development assistance (ODA); the third-largest trade partner; and the third-largest labor import market. In 2024, bilateral trade turnover reached 81.5 billion USD, an increase of 7.3% compared to the previous year.
On labour cooperation, the two sides signed an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding on the dispatch and reception of Vietnamese workers to Republic of Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS) in June 2023, with a validity of two years from the signing date. In 2024, Republic of Korea remained Vietnam’s third-largest overseas labor market. About 7,900 Vietnamese workers under the EPS program were received, bringing the total number of Vietnamese workers in Republic of Korea to around 88,000 (including EPS workers, high-skilled labourers, and seasonal workers).
In the field of science and technology cooperation, the two sides continue to maintain the mechanism of the Vietnam–Republic of Korea Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation at the ministerial level. At the 9th meeting (October 2023), the two sides agreed to conduct joint research from 2025 in six areas: information technology, biotechnology, climate technology, nanotechnology, digital transformation, and new/renewable energy. Both sides are actively cooperating to implement Phase 2 of the Vietnam–Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST). Major high-tech Korean corporations are also investing in Vietnam’s National Innovation Center (NIC), with SK Group funding and supporting research programs for Vietnamese businesses, and Samsung establishing a research lab under the Samsung Innovation Campus, among others.
In tourism cooperation, 2024 recorded 4.6 million Korean visitors to Vietnam and 600,000 Vietnamese visitors to Republic of Korea. This marked the first time that people-to-people exchanges between the two countries surpassed 5 million. In the first quarter of 2025, Republic of Korea was Vietnam’s second-largest source of international tourists, with 1.26 million arrivals — an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period in 2024 — accounting for 21% of Vietnam’s total foreign arrivals.
Regarding people-to-people exchange, in 2024, the total number of Vietnamese living and working in Republic of Korea was about 320,000, an increase of 50,000 compared to 2023. Among them were nearly 100,000 students and over 100,000 workers of various categories. More than 40,000 Vietnamese women were married to Korean men (excluding those who have obtained Korean citizenship); the rest are resided under forms such as investment cooperation, family visits, and short-term employment. The descendants of the Ly Hoa Son (Lee Hwasan) and Ly Tinh Thien (Lee Jeongseon) lineages were estimated at around 1,000 individuals.
(Source: MOFA)
