The MoU was signed by VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong and Yonhap President-cum-General Director Park Jung Chan in Seoul, on Nov 9.

Under the document, the two news agencies will share experiences and technology in preparations for broadcasting new TV channels, jointly conduct free-of-charge programmes and exchange TV programmes and products, the Vietnam news agency said.

The two agencies also pledged themselves to establishing a partnership to provide consultation services in all fields, exchange information, research and consultancy projects and consider facilitating the exchange of staff.

Yonhap chief Park said that the accord with the VNA would provide a good opportunity for the two agencies to promote long-term co-operation and improve TV broadcasting content.

He also introduced the Vietnamese delegation to Yonhap’s new operations model which aims to meet emerging demand for information in the new stage of development.

For his part, VNA Genaral Director Huong said he highly valued co-operation with Yonhap in the recent past and wished for stronger co-operation in the years to come, thus contributing to the development of strategic co-operative partnership between the two countries.

During its five-day stay in the RoK from Monday, the VNA delegation will also pay a working visit to Jeju Island after Seoul.

– BERNAMA

Vietnam’s government isn’t delaying the IPO and that the company’s advisors have recommended the deal should only proceed when market conditions are conducive for fund-raising, Dang said.

He also said that Vietnam’s pledged foreign direct investment has been picking up recently but will probably be much lower overall this year than 2008.

Between January and October, pledged FDI was US$19 billion compared with US$69 billion for the whole of last year, he added.

However, he said that most of last year’s pledged investment was targeted at the booming real estate sectorand hasn’t been disbursed. In the first ten months of this year, US$8 billion had been disbursed compared with US$9 billion for 2008. Investment in real estate is expected to pick up in the coming months as the sector is recovering fast, Dang said.

“They (real estate investors) will be back,” he added.

Dang dismissed concerns that Vietnam’s weak currency and investors’ difficulties to repatriate profits will have a negative effect on overall FDI.

“Sometimes, the government doesn’t have enough dollars to give them as much as they want to exchange,” he said. “They have to live with that.”

By David Roman, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 045; david.roman@dowjones.com

Ao dai is a symbal of Vietnam

For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men’s dress has gradually changed along with social development.

The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes.
Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an “ao dai”, a long gown with slits on either side.
The outer garment is a special silk gown called an “ao tu than” which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman’s neck.
Over time, the traditional “ao dai” has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.
An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a “non bai tho” (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman’s formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace.
To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer.
In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Vietnam; however, the traditional “ao dai” remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings.
In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.
In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges.

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak

Hope is growing that the two nations will forge closer ties to deepen their friendship and boost exchanges not only in economy but also in politics, security, culture and education. It is expected that Seoul and Hanoi will reach an agreement to upgrade their present “comprehensive partnership” to a “strategic cooperative” relationship during Lee’s visit to the Southeast Asian country.

President Lee will hold a summit with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Minh Triet, to sign the agreement and seal a package of economic cooperation deals. Lee’s visit will be the fifth of its kind by South Korean heads of state to Vietnam since the nation established relations with the socialist country in 1992. Since then, the two sides have made much progress in their bilateral relationship.

The number of South Korean and Vietnamese visitors to each county reached 500,000 last year. And 80,000 to 90,000 South Koreans currently live in Vietnam, while roughly the same number of Vietnamese resides in Korea. Besides, 60-70 percent of the 90 million people in Vietnam enjoy Korean soap operas, movies and songs. Many Vietnamese are riding the Korean wave, which is better known as hallyu ― the boom of Korean pop culture abroad, especially in Japan, China and Southeast Asian countries. More than 40,000 Vietnamese women have immigrated to Korea after marring South Korean men.

Vietnam, a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has emerged as an important partner for Korea. During the Cold War period, South Korea excessively focused on ties with the United States, Japan and other allies. But since the 1990s, the country has diversified its diplomacy by normalizing ties with China and Russia. It has also given more attention to relations with ASEAN states. Against this backdrop, Korea and Vietnam have witnessed rapid development in their bilateral ties in a short period.

Trade between the two countries has seen a sizable rise, especially since Seoul signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN in 2007. Korea’s exports to Vietnam jumped 35 percent year-on-year to $7.8 billion in 2008, while its imports from the Southeast Asian country surged 46 percent to $2 billion. It is necessary for the two countries to double their efforts to step up bilateral cooperation in business, industry, investment and other exchanges.

In addition, South Korea should do more to help heal the wounds of Vietnamese who were victimized during the Vietnam War. Many people still have bad memories of South Korean troops who fought alongside American soldiers in Vietnam between 1965 and 1975. The Hanoi government has recently protested Seoul’s definition of the Vietnamese conflict. The protest came after the South Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said in a public notice last month that it would push for legislation to give financial compensation and other benefits to Vietnam War veterans.

What annoyed Hanoi officials was the ministry’s statement that the veterans “worked for world peace.” South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan hurriedly flew to Hanoi last weekend to assure Vietnamese officials that the Seoul government will not use the phrase “world peace” in further statements on the matter. The Lee administration should take proactive measures to prevent such a war-related issue from standing in the way of a future-oriented relationship with Vietnam. It is important to have a correct understanding of the Vietnam War and help relieve the pain of Vietnamese who suffered physically and mentally due to the conflict.

China’s Wen Jiabao told Nguyen Tan Dung that Beijing wants to “enhance political mutual trust with Vietnam and properly handle border and South China Sea issues,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Dung replied that Vietnam would “properly settle the South China Sea issue and other problems via friendly negotiation with China so as to preserve the development of bilateral ties,” Xinhua said.

Relations have warmed considerably over the past decade, alongside growth in trade and regional cooperation. The two countries signed a land border agreement in 1999, but it took them nine years to demarcate the 840-mile (1,350-kilometer) frontier.

Suspicion of Chinese intentions has become a rallying cry for government critics in Vietnam in recent years, sparking online complaints and street protests.

Last month, the government scrambled to calm public outrage by punishing the editor of the official Communist Party Web site for running an article that seemed to endorse China’s position in a dispute over the largely uninhabited Paracel Islands.

Another dispute over the Spratly Islands has prompted widespread concern among Vietnamese bloggers, along with Chinese involvement with a bauxite mine in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Recently, two Vietnamese bloggers and an online journalist were detained briefly for posting entries critical of the government’s handling of relations with China.

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