South Korean parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa has asked Vietnam to show the reclusive North Korea ways of reforming and opening up, officials said on Thursday.
Chung met Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang in Hanoi Thursday and asked the head of state to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and help the North "quickly become a normal state," according to the South Korean National Assembly officials accompanying Chung.
"North Korea should model itself after Vietnam and its successful 'Doi Moi' policy, and it's worrisome that it hasn't," Chung was quoted as saying, in reference to the reform movement in Vietnam. "I ask you to invite Kim Jong-un to Hanoi at the earliest date possible and if Kim has discussions (with President Sang), it will have a huge impact on helping uniting the Korean Peninsula into one nation of reconciliation and cooperation."
According to the National Assembly officials, Chung also said Kim Jong-un may be "future-oriented" because he is relatively young and was educated in Switzerland.
Chung also said he's considering meeting other senior North Korean officials, such as Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang, and Choe Tae-bok, the chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly.
In response, Sang recalled that Kim Yong-nam had visited Vietnam in 2012 and he "listened attentively" to the briefing on Vietnam's reforms, according to the South Korean officials.
The Vietnamese president also said his country "always welcomes" visits by North Korean leaders and the two sides have often talked about reforming and opening up.
Sang also called for patience on the South Koreans' part, because Vietnam too experienced difficulties early in its reform stage, and said North Korea must have its own set of ideas about economic development.
Also at the meeting, Chung and Sang reaffirmed the two countries' hopes to further elevate their "strategic cooperative partnership," the National Assembly officials said. (Yonhap)
