Full text of Joint Statement between Vietnam and Korea

At the invitation of President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun Hye, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong paid a state visit to the Republic of Korea from October 1 to 4, 2014.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye welcomes General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. (Photo: Tri Dung/VNA)

During the visit, the two sides issued a Vietnam-Korea Joint Statement. Nghe An Electronic Newspaper respectfully introduces the full text of the Joint Statement:

1. At the invitation of President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun Hye, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong paid a state visit to the Republic of Korea from October 1 to 4, 2014. During the visit, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held talks with President Park Geun-hye and attended an official reception hosted by President Park Geun-hye on October 2.

2. President Park Geun-hye and General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highly appreciated the strong development of bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992. The two sides emphasized the need to comprehensively promote and deepen the Vietnam-Korea Strategic Cooperative Partnership established in 2009.

In this regard, the two leaders expressed their determination to strengthen cooperation in many areas such as politics, security, defense, trade and economy, culture and society, regional and international issues. In that spirit, the two leaders agreed to seek measures to strengthen the current Intergovernmental Committee mechanism to elevate bilateral cooperation in the new period.

3. The two Leaders agreed to increase high-level exchanges between the Governments, National Assemblies, and political parties of the two countries and promote existing dialogue channels to enhance political cooperation, security, and mutual trust.

The two leaders agreed to promote trade and investment cooperation between the two countries through the completion of negotiations on the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2014; agreed to further expand and facilitate the implementation of the current bilateral cooperation in the fields of labor, industry, agriculture, finance and development projects as well as large-scale infrastructure construction projects to effectively connect the two economies to support sustainable development in both countries.

The two leaders also noted the importance of improving the investment environment to promote private investment between the two sides. In this regard, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highly appreciated the investment of Korean enterprises contributing to the development of Vietnam and expressed the determination of the Vietnamese Government to create favorable conditions for expanding investment of Korean enterprises in Vietnam.

4. The two sides shared the understanding that people-to-people exchanges form a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations and agreed to enhance exchanges in areas such as education, science, culture, sports and tourism. The two leaders also agreed to step up efforts to enhance the welfare and safety of citizens of one country living in the other.

The two Leaders particularly acknowledged the importance of multicultural families as a bridge between the peoples of the two countries; agreed to make joint efforts to encourage future generations of multicultural families to play a more active role in youth exchanges between the two countries.

5. The Republic of Korea expressed deep concern over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's recent threat to conduct a new nuclear test and ballistic missile launches, expressed its non-acceptance of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, and strongly urged the DPRK to abandon its nuclear program and take the path of peace and prosperity.

In this regard, the two sides reaffirmed the 2013 Vietnam-Korea Joint Statement, calling on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to fully comply with relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council as well as the commitments in the Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks of September 19, 2005. Vietnam reaffirmed its support for the initiatives of the Republic of Korea to promote dialogue, reduce tensions, establish lasting peace towards peaceful reunification on the Korean Peninsula and promote peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia.

The Leaders stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, ensuring security, safety at sea and freedom of navigation; recognized the need for relevant parties to resolve disputes by peaceful means, comply with international law, implement the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work together to soon adopt a Code of Conduct between parties in the East Sea (COC).

6. The two Leaders shared the view that the ASEAN-ROK Special Summit to be held from 11 to 12 December this year in Busan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN-ROK dialogue will be an important milestone in promoting the substantive development of the ASEAN-ROK Strategic Partnership. Vietnam informed that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung would attend the ASEAN-ROK Special Summit and would coordinate for the success of the Summit. Korea expressed its gratitude for Vietnam's cooperation.

7. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong sincerely thanked President Park Geun-hye and the Korean people for their warm, friendly, and thoughtful welcome and respectfully invited President Park Geun-hye to visit Vietnam again at a convenient time. President Park Geun-hye sincerely thanked him and happily accepted the invitation.

Seoul, October 2, 2014./.