General Secretary To Lam's visit to North Korea "has special significance"

(Dan Tri) - General Secretary To Lam's visit to North Korea this time is the first state visit by a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to North Korea in 18 years.

At the invitation of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un, General Secretary To Lam and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will pay a State visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and attend the ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea from October 9 to 11.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu answered the press on the occasion of General Secretary To Lam's working visit to North Korea.

Deputy Minister, please tell us the meaning and purpose of General Secretary To Lam's State visit to North Korea and attendance at the 80th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea?

- This visit has many special meanings, being General Secretary To Lam's first visit to North Korea as General Secretary and the first State visit by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to North Korea in 18 years.

The visit took place at a time when the two countries were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1950-2025) and the Vietnam-DPRK Friendship Year 2025, vividly demonstrating the importance that the two Parties and States attach to the traditional friendship between Vietnam and the DPRK.

General Secretary To Lam (Photo: VNA).

This visit has three very important meanings and purposes:

Firstly , this visit continues to affirm Vietnam's consistent foreign policy of valuing relations with traditional friends. North Korea is one of the first countries in the world to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam (since 1950).

This is a traditional friendship that has been carefully cultivated by President Ho Chi Minh, President Kim Il Sung and generations of leaders of the two countries.

During the struggle for national liberation, North Korea also stood side by side with and helped Vietnam. Vietnam also always supported and accompanied North Korea in difficult times.

Second, the visit is a very important occasion for the top leaders of the two Parties and two countries to exchange and agree on strategic orientations to inherit and promote the traditional friendship between the two Parties and two countries.

At the same time, strengthen bilateral cooperation in the new period in accordance with relevant international regulations and meet the aspirations and wishes of the people of the two countries, especially in areas such as health, culture, sports, people-to-people exchange, and agricultural cooperation.

Third , as an active and responsible member of the international community, with this visit, Vietnam continues to demonstrate its consistent support for trends, efforts and contributions to peace, stability and development cooperation on the Korean peninsula, in the region and in the world.

The State visit by General Secretary To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will be an important milestone, contributing to further enhancing the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation between the two Parties and two countries.

General Secretary and President To Lam received North Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Ri Sung Guk to present his credentials on August 12, 2024 (Photo: VNA).

Could you please assess the Vietnam - North Korea relationship in recent times and the Deputy Minister's expectations for this working trip of the General Secretary?

- In recent years, despite objective difficulties due to the international and regional situation, with the foundation of long-standing traditional friendship and the will and desire for continuous cooperation between the two countries, the Vietnam - North Korea relationship continues to develop stably and firmly and achieves a number of encouraging and outstanding results.

First of all, the two sides maintained high-level delegation exchanges and activities, with a special highlight being the official friendship visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un in March 2019.

Over the past time, senior leaders and all levels of the two countries have maintained contact and exchange in flexible forms such as sending letters and telegrams to each other during important events of each country, thereby strengthening the friendship and political trust between the two sides.

The two sides have signed a number of bilateral cooperation agreements in the fields of culture, health, civil aviation, judicial assistance, investment encouragement and protection, and double taxation avoidance.

At the same time, maintain a number of dialogue and cooperation mechanisms such as the Political Consultation at the Deputy Foreign Minister level, the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic-Trade, Scientific-Technological Cooperation on the basis of suitability to each country's needs as well as international regulations.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchange are bright spots in the friendly relations between the two countries, with diverse forms such as exchanges of art and cultural delegations, sports exchanges, participation in the annual Spring Arts Festival, and the Pyongyang International Film Festival.

Exchange activities between people's organizations are maintained and expanded, especially activities within the framework of the Vietnam - Korea Friendship Year 2025 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, thereby helping people of the two countries, especially the young generation, to understand more deeply the traditional and good friendship between the two Parties, States and peoples.

With the above good cooperation results and the goodwill and efforts of both sides, we believe that this historic visit will create new achievements for the relationship between the two countries.

This is also a very important occasion for the two sides to share in a substantive, sincere and frank manner the international and regional situation of mutual concern, and to make responsible and constructive contributions to promoting dialogue, maintaining peace, cooperation and development on the Korean peninsula, in the region and in the world.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/chuyen-tham-trieu-tien-cua-tong-bi-thu-to-lam-mang-y-nghia-dac-biet-20251008110808490.htm