WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Nov 23, 2017 / 16:12

Lee Chang Kun named Vietnam’s tourism ambassador to South Korea

Ly Xuong Can (South Korea name Lee Chang Kun), a descendant of King Ly Thai To – the first king of the Ly dynasty (1010 - 1225), has been appointed Vietnam’s tourism ambassador to South Korea for 2017 - 2020 by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Ly Xuong Can.
Ly Xuong Can.
The ministry said on November 22 that Ly Xuong Can whose Korean name is Lee Chang Kun was born in 1958 in Seoul. He is the 31st generation descendant of King Ly Thai To and the 26th generation descendant of Prince Ly Long Tuong, who immigrated to South Korea in the 13th century.
In 1994, Ly Xuong Can represented the Ly Hoa Son clan in South Korea to return to Vietnam and visited his hometown in Dinh Bang ward, Tu Son town, the northern province of Bac Ninh. Six years later, he and his family received the Vietnamese citizenship. He has become member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee since September 2014.
Ly Xuong Can has expressed his wish to contribute to the development of Vietnam as well as the Vietnam – South Korea friendship, while turning Vietnam into a well-known tourist destination in the world.
Earlier, the ministry appointed world-famous chef Bobby Chinn as Vietnam’s tourism ambassador to Europe from July 2014 to July 2017 and Anoa Suzanne Dussol Perran, a French national of Vietnamese origin, as Vietnamese tourism ambassador to France for 2015 - 2018.
According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism under Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the number of South Korean arrivals to Vietnam have increased strongly annually. If 53,452 South Korean visitors travelled to Vietnam in 2000, this number increased to 1,543,883 arrivals in 2016.
In the first eight months of this year, 1,500,811 passengers paid their visit to Vietnam, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the same period last year, becoming the second largest passenger market to Vietnam.