DPRK official exchanges views with Vietnam's foreign minister
Updated 18:25, 14-Feb-2019
CGTN
["china"]
00:34
Vietnam's top diplomat wrapped up his visit to the DPRK on Thursday apparently meant to discuss issues related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s top leader Kim Jong Un's upcoming trip.
Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, who doubles as Vietnam's deputy prime minister, arrived at a Beijing international airport on an Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang.
He's apparently in transit back to Vietnam following a three-day trip to the DPRK's capital, where he reportedly had meetings with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Ri Su Yong, who's in charge of international affairs at the Workers' Party of Korea.
The two sides exchanged in-depth views on regional and international issues of mutual concern and ways to expand bilateral relations.
Pham Binh Minh arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday.
He was accompanied by five government officials, including the ministry's protocol chief, Yonhap reported.
The choice of Vietnam as host of this month's summit between Trump and Kim shows the Southeast Asian nation is headed in the right direction, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday.
Trump is set to hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on February 27 and 28. That follows an unprecedented summit of the two leaders in Singapore last June. Kim is widely expected to pay a state visit to Vietnam just before or after the summit. 
"This important event has shown that Vietnam's investment environment is good, that Vietnam's development model is going in a right direction and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful," Phuc told government officials at the Hanoi Stock Exchange.
"Vietnam will demonstrate its international role and do its best to let the word 'Vietnam' ring out."
Kim Song, DPRK's ambassador to the United Nations said his country does not have a sense of betrayal toward Vietnam left from the past after the Southeast Asian country turned to a market economy, during a luncheon on February 9 with representatives from a pro-unification organization of Korean-Americans.
He made the remarks when asked if the DPRK feels betrayed after Vietnam took on the economic reform policy despite its dispatch of troops and assistance during the Vietnam War.
"That was then and this is now," Kim Song said in response.