Vietnamese president arrives in South Korea
SEOUL -
Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong arrived here Wednesday to begin the first ever visit to South Korea by
a head of state of communist Vietnam, officials said.
Luong is scheduled to start his official itinerary with a summit with President Kim Dae-Jung on Thursday. He
meets parliamentary Speaker Lee Man-Sup after the summit.
Before leaving South Korea on Saturday, the Vietnamese leader also plans to meet business leaders and tour
industrial facilities.
Officials hope Luong's landmark visit will help bring the former Cold War adversaries closer together.
South Korea sent troops to the US-backed Saigon regime during the 1961-75 Vietnam War which ended in
the victory of the communist northern Vietnam. Seoul and Hanoi forged diplomatic ties only in 1992.
Luong's visit follows a trip by Vietnamese Defence Minister Pham Van Tra earlier this month in which the
former foes agreed to bolster military ties.
On the commercial front, bilateral trade recorded more than two billion dollars last year with South Korean
investment in Vietnam now totalling 3.2 billion dollars.
The South Korean president visited Hanoi in 1998 for talks with Southeast Asian leaders at their annual
informal summit.
Agence France Presse - August 22, 2001.
South Korea, Vietnam expected to step up exchanges in IT sector
SEOUL - The visit to South Korea by Vietnamese President
Tran Duc Luong is likely to pave the way for the enhancement of
bilateral cooperation and exchange in the information technology (IT)
sector, industry sources said Thursday [23 August]. Luong, in Seoul on
a four-day state visit from Wednesday [22 August] at the invitation of
President Kim Dae-jung, will visit a research institute of SK Telecom in
Pundang, south of Seoul, Friday [24 August]to tour the nation's code
division multiple access (CDMA) facilities.
The Vietnamese government issued official approval for a CDMA mobile
phone project Wednesday to SLD Telecom, a South Korean consortium
comprising SK Telecom, LG Electronics and Donga Elecom. LG plans
to ask Lung to take part in the switchboard replacement project of
Hipong in Vietnam.
Earlier in the day, Korea Telecom [KT] President Lee Sang-chul met
with Dang Dinh Lam, president of state-run Vietnam Post and
Telecommunications (VNPT), the largest communication operator in
Vietnam. At the meeting, Lee suggested a plan to form an advanced
communication network in Vietnam with the use of the wireless local
loops (WLL) system.
KT and VNPT also wrapped up the final contract for an asymmetrical
digital service lines (ADSL) business project that will be implemented in
the three regions of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Haipong in cooperation
with a VNPT affiliate. Korea Telecom plans to work with Korean
equipment firms to move into the high-speed Internet market in Vietnam.
Korea Telecom has maintained cooperative relations with the
Vietnamese firm since 1997, when the two signed an agreement on the
instalment of basic communication networks in Vietnam.
Yonhap News Agency - August 23, 2001.
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