S. Korea, Vietnam push to strike free trade deal this year

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Vietnam agreed Thursday to push to conclude a free trade agreement within this year, the presidential office here said, as they seek to further strengthen their ties.

The commitment was reached during a summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong in Seoul.

The two sides plan to wrap up the seventh round of negotiations on the free trade deal Thursday.

South Korea already has a free trade pact with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which Vietnam is a member.

Vietnam is South Korea's ninth-largest trading partner with two-way trade amounting to US$28.2 billion in 2013.

"I hope that the two countries can further deepen our strategic cooperative partnership by building friendship and trust," Park said in a summit with Trong.

Trong arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for a four-day trip.

Also Thursday, the two leaders urged North Korea to fully implement its commitment to abandon its nuclear programs under a landmark deal reached with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia in 2005.

North Korea has since repeatedly vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy toward it.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong said Saturday in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that the standoff over the North's nuclear weapons program will be resolved if the U.S. ends its "hostile policy" toward Pyongyang.

Park's office said the calls by Park and Trong on North Korea's denuclearization could send a strong message to North Korea. Vietnam maintains close relations with North Korea since they established diplomatic ties in 1950.

Last year, Park made a state visit to Vietnam, decades after her late father President Park Chung-hee sent troops to fight alongside the United States in the Vietnam War.

entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)