Vietnam and South Korea will upgrade their relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022. (Photo: Nguyen Hong)

"This is the largest business delegation since the Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office," said Choi Sang-mok, senior adviser for economic affairs at the Presidential Office.

The companies and businesses accompanying the delegation this time belong to many business fields including distribution, finance, law, healthcare, information technology, and service and cultural sectors.

The chairmen of the five largest Korean corporations such as Lee Jae-yong (Samsung Electronics), Chey Tae-won (SK), Chung Eui-sun (Hyundai Motor), Koo Kwang-mo (LG), and Shin Dong-bin (Lotte) also joined the delegation.

In addition, the Presidents of six major economic organizations including the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Korcham), the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the Korea Enterprise Federation (KEF), the Korea Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (KBIZ), and the Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises of Korea (FOMEK) will also join the delegation.

According to Yonhap , the President of South Korea will pay a state visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Vo Van Thuong from June 22-24.

Vietnam and South Korea established diplomatic relations in December 1992 and became Strategic Cooperative Partners in October 2009. The two countries upgraded their relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022.

Korea is one of Vietnam's leading important partners, ranking first in investment, second in ODA, and third in trade.

As of April 2023, Korea had more than 9,500 valid investment projects in Vietnam, with nearly 82 billion USD in total registered capital. Korea supported 1.2 billion USD in preferential loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) in the 2012-2015 period.

The two sides have extended the Vietnam-Korea Framework Credit Agreement for the 2016-2020 period with a scale of 1.5 billion USD. Total bilateral trade turnover in 2022 will reach 87 billion USD, an increase of 11.4% compared to 2021.