Seoul (VNA) – People from all walks of life in the Republic of Korea(RoK) have spoken highly of Vietnam and its role in the RoK’s New SouthernPolicy that was introduced by the government of President Moon Jae-in in 2017to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on the US, China, Japan and the EuropeanUnion (EU).

Chairman of the RoK Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy Joo HyungChul made the comment in an interview given to Vietnam News Agencycorrespondents in Seoul on the threshold of the 2019 ASEAN-RoK CommemorativeSpecial Summit set to take place in the southern city of Busan from November 25to 26 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the dialogue partnership betweenASEAN and the RoK.

The summit, together with the Mekong-RoK Summit expected to take place rightafter, is said to be the biggest international event the ROK hosts under theMoon Jae-in administration.

 “I believe that the RoK-Vietnam ties play themost important role in the promotion of  the New Southern Policy and inthe push of RoK-Mekong region cooperation as well as the RoK-ASEAN relations”,said Joo, who is also the Adviser to President Moon Jae-in for economicaffairs.

According tothe official, it can be said that the RoK-Vietnam cooperation ties in recentyears have become better than ever and is an ideal model that the RoK-ASEAN,the RoK-Mekong and the New Southern Policy target and pursue.

“Based on the pattern of relations between the two countries, we will push aheadwith the non-stop development of cooperation ties with other countries in theMekong sub-region”, he said, adding that the RoK government would closely workwith Vietnam in the process in order to promote and make progress toward theco-prosperity among Vietnam, RoK and the other nations in the Mekong Riverregion.

Sharing the viewpoints, senior fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies,Ph D. Lee Jaehyon, stressed the role and position of Vietnam in his country’sNew Southern Policy.

“For the success of the New Southern Policy in the second phase starting nextyear, Vietnam’s contribution is vital”, said the scholar, who specializes onASEAN and Oceania studies, explaining that Vietnam will be the chair country ofASEAN and non-permanent member of the United Nation Security Council while theRoK enters the second phase of its New Southern Policy.

And in 2020 Vietnam will also coordinate the cooperation between the RoK andMekong River countries, so Vietnam’s role will be more important, addedJoo. 
 “There is a lot of things Vietnam and the RoKcan do together regionally and globally’, said the scholar, mentioningVietnam’s contributions to the peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.“Vietnam has close relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) and is one of the best countries able to give the country fundamentaladvices on opening up, reform and denuclearization”, he explained.

AmbassadorHahn Choonghee, Special Adviser to the RoK Speaker for Foreign Affairs,expressed his hopes that Vietnam can continue contributing to the peace andstability on the Korean Peninsula. He said the RoK can also plays an importantrole together with Vietnam in achieving overall peace and security in the SoutheastAsia region.

According to him, Vietnam can play an important leading role in moving thecommitments and agreements in the Busan summits together with the RoK, inparticularly next year Vietnam becomes Chairman of ASEAN.

Meanwhile, the Korean scholar expressed his belief that as the chair of ASEAN,Vietnam will lead ASEAN countries in developing strategic relations with theRoK and the two countries can discuss ways to reduce negative impacts from theongoing China-US trade war as well as the impact of the strategic competitionbetween the two super powers.

Regarding theRoK-Vietnam current relations, Chol Young Joo, Chairman of the Korea-VietnamFriendship Association (KOVIFA), said that since the diplomatic establishmentin 1992, the RoK-Vietnam relations have developed in all of the fields,including politics, diplomacy, economy, culture, education, sports andart. 

 “The exchanges and cooperation between the twocountries are expanding at the central and local levels”, said KOVIFA Chairman,quoting impressive two-way trade turnover of USD 68.2 billion in 2018, up asmany as 130 times from the year 1992.

In the fieldof economy, Vietnam is the RoK's third largest export market (after China andthe US) and the fourth largest trading partner (after China, the US, andJapan).

Meanwhile, in the investment sector, Vietnam has emerged as the RoK's thirdlargest investment destination, pouring in approximately 66.5 billion USD inthe Southeast Asia country in the period from January 1988 to June 2019, saidthe KOVIFA Chairman, who is also Chairman and CEO of Panko Corporation withgarment bases in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong and central provinceof Quang Nam.  

The twonations are witnessing thriving relations in other fields, includingsocio-culture, education, and people-to-people exchange, he said./.