HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam's Communist Party chief on Tuesday left for a three-day visit to North Korea as state media stressed Hanoi's desire to support peace efforts on the Korean Peninsula.
Nong Duc Manh was joined by Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, who is also deputy prime minister, on the visit at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, the head of the Korean Workers' Party.
Vietnam -- which is expected to be voted onto the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member later Tuesday -- maintains relations with both Pyongyang, a communist ally, and Seoul, a major trade partner and investor.
"The visit to the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by General Secretary Manh is aimed at fostering the traditional friendship and economic ties between the two countries," said the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
"It is also expected to help increase Vietnam's role, position and prestige in the international arena and demonstrate the country's involvement in resolving international issues and promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula."
Hanoi in March hosted a North Korea-Japan meeting under the six-nation talks -- which also involve South Korea, China, the United States and Russia -- the process that led Pyongyang to pledge to end its nuclear programme this year.
The state-controlled Vietnam News daily said on Tuesday that "Vietnam is ready to make active contributions to improving relations between the two Koreas and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula."
North Korea and Vietnam, which established ties in 1950, are two of the world's five remaining communist countries, alongside China, Laos and Cuba.
Pyongyang lent Hanoi military support during the Vietnam war, but ties soured after Vietnam in 1979 ousted Cambodia's Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge, drawing protests from Chinese ally North Korea.
While North Korea has remained isolated and poor, Vietnam opened its doors with its doi moi (renewal) reforms from 1986, grew its economy and sought closer international ties, including with former enemy the United States.
Manh is the first Vietnamese party chief to visit North Korea in 50 years, since founding president Ho Chi Minh visited in 1957, although government leaders have exchanged visits in recent years.
North Korea's late president Kim Il-Sung visited Vietnam twice, and current Prime Minister Kim Yong-Il is scheduled to pay an official visit to Vietnam before the end of this month, VNA reported.
North Korea shocked the world when it conducted its first nuclear test in October last year in defiance of international warnings. But it has since returned to the six-nation talks and agreed to an aid-for-disarmament deal.
North Korea has pledged to disable by December 31 the main reactor at Yongbyon and two other key nuclear facilities at the complex, which were shut down in July in the first phase of the disarmament accord.
North Korea is also required by the end of the year to make a full declaration of its nuclear programmes. In return, the energy-starved country will get a total of one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil or equivalent economic aid plus major diplomatic and security benefits.
Vietnam's Quan Doi Nhan Dan, or People's Army newspaper, hailed Manh's visit, saying it comes as "the Northeast Asian region is experiencing major and positive changes in issues concerning Korea's nuclear programme."
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