Theme: Vietnam

South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul met on Thursday with his Singaporean and Vietnamese counterparts to discuss expanding defense cooperation, his ministry said, according to the Korea Herald. The ministers agreed to expand cooperation in personnel exchanges, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Vietnam’s Communist Party chief and president, To Lam, arrived in Brussels on Wednesday for an official visit to the European Union (EU) and Belgium, another sign that relations continue to expand, according to DW. Trade in goods between Vietnam and the EU reached €76 billion in 2025.

Deputy Defense Ministers Ryo Chol-un of North Korea and Nguyen Truong Thang of Vietnam discussed in Hanoi the further expansion of military cooperation, the TASS news agency reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). According to the agency, the negotiations took place on September 24 at the headquarters of Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Moscow expects the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to approve Russia’s bid to chair the forum in 2035, and that China and Vietnam already back the request officially, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Rudenko said similar assurances came in contacts between Russian officials and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and that a number of other delegations had reacted positively.