Nguyen Phu Binh, Vietnam's first resident ambassador to Seoul, is visiting South Korea again this week after serving his term in the 1990s, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations.
Currently a standing member of Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), Nguyen is one of the six high-profile figures invited to Seoul from Sunday to Saturday to mark the milestone year between the two countries.
| Nguyen Phu Binh, Vietnam's first resident ambassador to South Korea / Courtesy of Korea Foundation |
Nguyen, 74, built his expertise on the two Koreas after starting his career at the Vietnamese foreign ministry's Northeast Asia bureau in 1970.
He was assigned to the Vietnamese Embassy in North Korea from 1973 to 1977. He worked on policymaking and other affairs after returning to the bureau.
He was appointed as the head of Vietnam's liaison office in Seoul in 1992, when the two countries established diplomatic relations.
Later the same year, Nguyen was named as the inaugural resident ambassador to Seoul. He served his term until 1997.
He underlined economic partnership and other “forward-looking” bilateral relations in his term, by setting aside the hostility between the two sides over Korea's joining of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s as a U.S. ally.
After his ambassadorship, Nguyen worked as deputy minister, vice minister on Northeast Asia affairs and ambassador to Japan before retiring from diplomacy in 2012.
He joined VUFO as its standing member in 2014.
Meanwhile, the six invited to Seoul include Do Ba Ty, retired Army general and also former vice chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly; Tran Van Tuy, former head of the Assembly's Committee for Deputy Affairs; former VUFO President Vu Xuan Hong; Ngo Dang Tuan, former senior official of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee; and Nguyen Van Tinh, former director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
They arrived here, Sunday. They are scheduled to visit Seoul's foreign ministry, National Assembly, the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea and the Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan through Wednesday.
They will visit Jeju Island on Thursday and Friday, where they will go to Jeju Peace Institute and also participate in cultural activities before returning home, Saturday.