한국-베트남 경제ㆍ사회 협력 30년 지속가능한 미래 협력 방안 연구(30 Years of Korea-Vietnam Economic and Social Cooperation 1992-2021: Achievements, Limitations and Suggestions for Further Expansion)

Korea and Vietnam have achieved remarkable outcomes of cooperation over the past 30 years since establishing diplomatic relations in December 1992. The rapid expansion of cooperation between the two countries is due to their geographical, historical, and cultural similarities and commonalities. Vietnam and Korea are both traditionally agricultural countries that have grown rice since ancient times, and have been influenced by Confucianism. In addition, Korea and Vietnam, which have inherited abundant cultural heritages thanks to their long history, have strong national pride. In particular, many Vietnamese scholars often take Korea as an example when discussing improving national industrial strategies and infrastructure, given that Korea has overcome the ruins of the Korean War and Vietnam is growing over the scars of the Vietnam War. However, since Vietnam joined the WTO in 2007, cooperation between the two countries has been mainly led by the economic sector. As economic cooperation strengthened, the two countries fell into the illusion that they knew each other well. Delusions often lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. A representative example is the dissatisfaction of Koreans with Vietnam’s quarantine response in the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. Vietnam regarded quarantine as a war situation and controlled it with strong discipline, but foreigners, including Koreans, did not understand this social trend. It was a misunderstanding that could have been avoided if Koreans were a bit more aware about Vietnam’s quarantine situation and culture, and conversely, Vietnamese knew better about Korean society and culture. This study analyzes the performance of cooperation in the economic, social, and cultural sectors over the past 30 years and seeks ways to enhance cooperation in the social and cultural sectors, which are relatively less successful than the economic sector. This is because the sustainable development of their bilateral relations requires not only economic cooperation but also “softpower” cooperation in social and cultural sectors. (the rest omitted)