— Discussion on Future Direction of Cooperation between Korea and Viet Nam under Comprehensive Strategic Partnership —

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea held a meeting on June 15 (Mon.) with a delegation of Vietnamese public officials visiting Korea from June 14 (Sun.) to June 23 (Tue.) as part of the "2026 KF Korea-Vietnam Youth Leaders Exchange" organized by the Korea Foundation (KF). The meeting was chaired by Deputy Director-General Jung Ga-yeon of the ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs Bureau.

* KF Korea-Vietnam Youth Leaders Exchange (since 2014): A program designed to strengthen future-oriented cooperative relations and promote mutual understanding between Korean and Vietnamese government officials under the age of 39 through mutual visits.

The event was attended by 30 young, central and provincial government officials from Viet Nam as well as officials from relevant bureaus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including the ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs Bureau, the Public Diplomacy and Cultural Affairs Bureau, and the Development Cooperation Bureau, who received briefings on the progress in Korea-Viet Nam cooperation and engaged in networking activities.

Deputy Director-General Jung delivered a presentation on "Korea-Vietnam Cooperation: Present and Future.": She explained the progress in cooperation and future directions for collaboration between the two Comprehensive Strategic Partners across political, economic and cultural fields and highlighted their growing interdependence and need for mutually beneficial cooperation in promising sectors such as science and technology innovation, energy security, and the cultural and creative industries, particularly amid the rising geopolitical uncertainty.

Deputy Director-General Jung also noted that recent reciprocal state visits by the leaders of  the two countries had further deepened bilateral ties, and called for continued efforts to sustain the momentum of cooperation established through summit diplomacy in order to achieve tangible outcomes that the peoples of both countries can see for themselves.

Delegation head Nghiem Xuan Nam (Deputy Director-General, Department of Youth Affairs and Gender Equality, Ministry of Home Affairs) stated that the visit allowed participants to deepen their overall understanding of the Korea-Viet Nam relationship, and conveyed his hope that this exchange program would help further strengthen the friendly network between young public officials of both countries.

Following the briefing session on Korea-Viet Nam relations, a networking event was held between the Korean officials and their Vietnamese counterparts. Participants shared best practices in bilateral cooperation across areas such as development cooperation, public diplomacy, and provincial government diplomacy, and exchanged views on current policy issues and areas of mutual interest.

This exchange program is expected to contribute to enhancing mutual understanding between young public officials from both Korea and Viet Nam and to laying the groundwork for their long-term friendly cooperation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Korea Foundation and other relevant institutions, will continue to expand exchanges between young public officials of Korea and Viet Nam and will work to further develop their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in a substantive manner.