1. Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Republic of Korea Yeo Seung-bae visited Viet Nam from November 29 to November 30 and met with Nguyen Quoc Dzung, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam and Viet Nam’s representative for the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting, on the afternoon of November 29*.

* The meeting was the first meeting between the SOM leaders of the ROK and Viet Nam to set the direction for future ROK-ASEAN cooperation and explore priority cooperation areas, as Viet Nam is the country coordinator for ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations for the next three years starting from August this year.

o Deputy Minister Yeo evaluated that the success of the ASEAN-ROK Summit on October 26 provided the momentum for strengthening cooperation between the two sides, and reaffirmed the ROK government’s commitment to enhance ROK-ASEAN relationship to a higher level by continuing to carry out the New Southern Policy with an emphasis on vaccines and health, digital technology and ICT, peace and security, and the environment and climate change.

o Vice Minister Dzung highly appreciated the development of ROK-ASEAN relations as well as ROK-Viet Nam relations over the past four years thanks to the ROK's New Southern Policy. In addition, he stressed that Viet Nam, as the country coordinator for ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations, will actively cooperate with the ROK to increase cooperation between the ROK and ASEAN in all areas of politics, economy, society, and culture.

o Both sides exchanged views on major international issues such as the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, and Myanmar. In particular, Deputy Minister Yeo expressed gratitude to ASEAN for welcoming the ROK's proposal to declare an end to the Korean War* and asked for ASEAN's continued support and cooperation for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. In addition, both sides agreed on the need to resolve the situation in Myanmar as soon as possible and on the importance of the role of ASEAN in doing so.

* The Chairman's Statement of the 22nd ASEAN-ROK Summit, which was held on October 26, includes the following sentence: "We also welcomed the ROK's proposal to declare an end to the Korean War."

2. Deputy Minister Yeo also attended the Track 1.5 ASEAN Connectivity and Closer Regional Cooperation Dialogue*, which was hosted by the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) on November 29, and discussed ways to improve connectivity in Viet Nam and ASEAN, with participants from governments, public organizations, and research institutes of the ROK, Viet Nam, the U.S. and Japan.

* The ROK MOFA holds connectivity forums led by overseas missions to promote customized infrastructure cooperation that meets the demands of the New Southern Policy’s counterpart countries. The dialogue was one of the series of such forums and held in a hybrid format.

- The first connectivity forum was held in Thailand on June 22 via videoconference.

- About 30 people including representatives from governments, public organizations, research institutes, and ODA agencies of the ROK, the U.S., and Japan as well as Vietnamese government officials and academics attended the forum.

o In his keynote speech, Deputy Minister Yeo explained that the ROK government had been providing support for ASEAN's digital and green infrastructure through the New Southern Policy Plus and proposed strengthening practical cooperation among the ROK, the U.S., and Japan for sustainable development in Viet Nam and ASEAN.

o Participants of the forum shared experiences and views on increasing connectivity in ASEAN and the Mekong region, with an emphasis on promoting digital and green economy, and discussed ways to create synergy through cooperation among the major organizations of the three countries.

3. In addition, Deputy Minister Yeo attended the inaugural ASEAN Forum on Sub-regional Cooperation,* which was hosted by Viet Nam on the morning of November 30. He explained the current status of the ROK government's cooperation in ASEAN’s sub-regional development which centers on ROK-Mekong cooperation, and presented how the ROK will strengthen cooperation in the ASEAN sub-region including Mekong, to narrow the development gap within the ASEAN region.

o High-level officials from the ASEAN sub-region including Prime Minister of Viet Nam Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of the Lao PDR, and the Prime Minister the Kingdom of Cambodia as well as representatives from external partner countries and relevant institutions such as the Secretary-General of ASEAN, the Foreign Minister of Australia, the Vice President of the World Bank, and the President of the Asian Development Bank participated in the Forum, and offered diverse perspectives on the recovery and sustainable development of ASEAN sub-regions and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation.

* Viet Nam proposed this forum to discuss how to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN’s external partner countries and stakeholders on sustainable development in the ASEAN sub-regions, recovery from COVID-19 and narrowing the regional development gap.