Pres. Park picks Vietnam for first trip to emerging economies

“Respond to everything that changes with no change.”

President Park Geun-hye quoted Ho Chi Minh’s motto at the dinner meeting for economic cooperation in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday. President Park said, “Unless both countries changes friendship and trust, we will be able to cope with any change and challenge together.”

“The Park Geun-hye administration’s ‘sales diplomacy’ is not about gaining profits but having a win-win situation winning the heart of the partner country,” said Cho Won-dong, the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, adding, “We’ll provide a wide range of supports to win the hearts and minds of Vietnamese people.” The presidential office said, “This is a decent 21st century diplomacy that helps each other and share hearts.”

President Park also said, “We need to develop a virtuous cooperation cycle in which Korea contributes to the development of Vietnam and Vietnam in turn provides new opportunities to the Korean economy for continuous economic cooperation between the two countries.” She added, “We’ll strongly support Vietnam’s economic development.”

President Park stressed the community outreach programs in Vietnam by Korean companies, and introduced Moon Yong-cheol who set up “KOTO,” Vienam’s first social enterprise, in 1999, and runs a training center to provide education and job opportunities to the underprivileged young people.

On her first day of her official visit to Vietnam, President Park will lay flowers to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, who is respected by Vietnamese, and sign an MOU in which Korea provides support to Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (V-KIST) at a summit on Monday.

Some say that she has a debt of gratitude, although she will not officially mention this, because her father, former President Park Chung-hee, sent troops for the Vietnam War to fight against the Communist North. A source from the presidential office said, “As Vietnam believes it won the Vietnam War, we do not need to rake over the past and go hand in hand for the future.”

“As a member of the key emerging economies following BRICs, we focused on Vietnam’s potential and possibilities,” President Park said at the dinner meeting, adding, “I chose Vietnam as the first destination of my visit to ASEAN countries because I am confident in the future that Korea and Vietnam will create together.” The Vietnamese government hosted the event while the Korea Chamber of Commerce prepared it, which reflects Vietnam’s great interest in the meeting. In the meeting were Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, seven ministers and deputy ministers, and 21 governors and deputy governors of provinces.

President Park will visit Tuesday Ho Chi Minh City where some 1,800 Korean companies and 70,000 Korean people reside.