News
Kim tells embassy staff to make efforts for enhanced relationship with Vietnam
Feb 27, 2019 / 07:13 PM
The bilateral ties were built up by late North Korea’s founder and first leader Kim Il-sung and Vietnamese late President Ho Chi Minh in 1950s.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a visit to the his country's diplomatic mission in Hanoi asked the embassy staff to further consolidate the deep-rooted friendly and cooperative relations between the two parties and two countries, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim paid a one-hour visit to the embassy after he reached Hanoi on Tuesday morning [February 26] after he finished a 60-hour train journey (about 4,500 km) through China.
Kim’s visit to the embassy was accompanied with his sister Kim Yo Jong and several senior officials.
Long-lasting relationship
Vietnam and North Korea set up bilateral relations in 1950. Pyongyang is one of Hanoi’s oldest friends.
The ties were built up by late North Korea’s founder and first leader Kim Il-sung and Vietnamese late President Ho Chi Minh. In 1958 and 1964, Kim Il-sung visited Vietnam while Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh paid a visit to the Northeast Asian country in 1957.
Do Thi Hoa, 75, a former Vietnamese ambassador to North Korea, said that they considered each other brothers at the time of the Vietnam War as Pyongyang provided materials and personnel during the war.
Vietnam, for its part, supported North Korea’s membership in the ASEAN Regional Forum, a dialogue on political and security issues, and sponsored reconciliation talks between North Korea and Japan. Hanoi has supported Pyongyang in different ways, including rice and rubber materials.
In Vietnam, many places mark the bilateral relationship namely Viet-Trieu (Vietnam-North Korea) Kindergarten, which was built in Hanoi in 1978 under the support of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a cooperative set up in Hanoi under the support of Pyongyang decades ago.
In 1960s, hundreds of Vietnamese students studied in the DPRK.
After Kim’s visit, KCNA also highlighted the warm welcome of Vietnamese people to the DPRK leader.
En route from the Dong Dang railway station to Hanoi, people gathered along the road to wave the North Korean leader. Amid ultra-tight security, he was greeted in Hanoi by cheering crowds behind barriers near the colonial-era pastel yellow Hanoi Opera House before arriving at Melia hotel where he will stay during the visit.
![]() North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the embassy in Hanoi on February 26. Photo: KCNA
|
Kim’s visit to the embassy was accompanied with his sister Kim Yo Jong and several senior officials.
Long-lasting relationship
Vietnam and North Korea set up bilateral relations in 1950. Pyongyang is one of Hanoi’s oldest friends.
![]() Portraits of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh at a kindergarten. Photo: Vietnamfrendship
|
Do Thi Hoa, 75, a former Vietnamese ambassador to North Korea, said that they considered each other brothers at the time of the Vietnam War as Pyongyang provided materials and personnel during the war.
Vietnam, for its part, supported North Korea’s membership in the ASEAN Regional Forum, a dialogue on political and security issues, and sponsored reconciliation talks between North Korea and Japan. Hanoi has supported Pyongyang in different ways, including rice and rubber materials.
In 1960s, hundreds of Vietnamese students studied in the DPRK.
![]() Kids in Viet-Trieu Kindergarten wave flags of the two countries. Photo: Koreatimes
|
En route from the Dong Dang railway station to Hanoi, people gathered along the road to wave the North Korean leader. Amid ultra-tight security, he was greeted in Hanoi by cheering crowds behind barriers near the colonial-era pastel yellow Hanoi Opera House before arriving at Melia hotel where he will stay during the visit.