The Republic of Korea (RoK) is the largest source of foreigninvestment in Vietnam , with an accumulated capital infusion of 23billion USD, said the RoK Consul General in HCM City Kim Sang Yoon.

At the Oct. 4 meeting held by the HCM Union of Friendship Organisationsto celebrate the founding anniversary of the RoK (Oct. 3), ConsulGeneral Kim Sang Yoon said the cooperative relations between Vietnam andthe RoK have strongly developed since the two countries establishedtheir diplomatic ties 18 years ago, with two-way trade turnoverincreasing from 500 million USD in 1992 to 9.5 billion USD.

At the meeting, Chairman of the HCM City Vietnam-RoK FriendshipAssociation Vu Van Hoa thanked the RoK for its support to Vietnam -and HCM City in particular - during the national construction anddevelopment.

In 2009, Vietnam received 985million USD in aid from the RoK Economic Development Cooperation Fund or20 percent of the fund’s budget, Hoa said.

The RoKhas also provided non-refundable aid to help Vietnam developinfrastructure systems, health care and environmental programs, he said.

In recent years, cooperation in tourism, education, sports and culture has borne fruit.

About 59,000 Vietnamese people are working and studying in the RoK andtens of thousands of Vietnamese brides have married RoK men, while manythousands of RoK families are living in Vietnam , according to theVietnam-RoK Friendship Association.

Up to July of this year, the RoK provided the second largest number of tourists to Vietnam , with 368,000 arrivals./.