North Korean premier visits Vietnam

Oct 26, 2007, 12:03 GMT

Seoul/Hanoi - North Korea's premier Kim Yong Il arrived in Vietnam on Friday for a five-day visit aimed at boosting ties between the two communist countries, news reports said.

The visit by Kim Yong Il - who is not related to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il - is part of a South-East Asian tour by the premier of the isolated state.

Kim Yong Il arrived in Vietnam to seek cooperation in farming and mining technology, an unidentified diplomatic source was quoted as saying in Hanoi by the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

Kim, also responsible for economic policy, is visiting Hanoi following last week's trip by Vietnam's Communist Party leader Nong Duc Manh to Pyongyang where he met with Kim Jong Il and extended an invitation for the supreme leader to visit Vietnam later this year.

Hanoi keeps diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea.

The premier will have an official meeting with Nguyen Tan Dung on Saturday, Yonhap said. The two are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on sharing agricultural technology and boosting cultural exchanges, it said.

North Korea and Vietnam have not engaged in any significant level of trade with each other in the past decade, while South Korea is one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

Kim, travels on to Cambodia after Vietnam.