Vietnam’s prime minister asked for South Korea’s support in ongoing disputes in the South China Sea.
On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi. The Vietnamese premier sought Yun’s support on the country’s position on the South China Sea disputes, where Vietnam is a claimant in both the Paracel and the Spratly group. Yun’s trip to Vietnam came shortly after he met U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his visit to Seoul last week. This year marks the 25th anniversary of bilateral ties between South Korea and Vietnam.
“The Prime Minister proposed that South Korea continue its support over the position of Vietnam and Southeast Asia on the South China Sea issue and to help the country improve its law enforcement at the sea,” the government of Vietnam said in a statement posted online after the meeting between the two. Neither the Vietnamese statement nor any public statement by Yun during his trip indicated direct South Korean support for Vietnam’s claim in the South China Sea.
Yun additionally discussed the North Korean threat with his counterpart Pham Binh Minh, who is also Vietnam’s deputy prime minister. North Korea most recently tested a high-performance rocket engine that experts believes may be used for the first stage of an intercontinental ballistic missile or a satellite launch vehicle.
