President Lee Jae-myung will arrive in Hanoi on the afternoon of the 21st (local time) after concluding a state visit to India and begin a four-day state visit to Vietnam.
The presidential aircraft carrying the president and first lady Kim Hea-kyung landed at Vietnam's Noi Bai International Airport in the afternoon.
The next day (the 22nd), there will be a luncheon meeting with local Korean residents, followed immediately by a summit with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and state president.
After the talks, the two leaders will attend a memorandum of understanding exchange ceremony, a joint press announcement, and a state banquet together.
On the 23rd, there will be back-to-back meetings with Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, No. 2 in Vietnam's hierarchy, and National Assembly Chair Tran Thanh Man, No. 3. The president is also scheduled to attend the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum that afternoon.
On the 24th, the last day of the tour, the schedule includes a friendly event to inspect the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, a representative cultural heritage site of Vietnam, with General Secretary Lam, before returning home.
Wi Sung-lac, director of the Office of National Security, said in a pre-briefing, "To Lam visited Korea last year as the president's first state guest, and the president is likewise the first foreign leader to pay a state visit since Vietnam's new leadership took office (in April). We have thus established a best-in-class partnership through the early realization of reciprocal visits."
He added, "Through this visit, we aim to strengthen mutually beneficial and strategic cooperation with Vietnam in core national development sectors such as nuclear power," and "We will seek stability in the energy supply chain amid growing global uncertainty and bolster cooperation on critical minerals."