DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM PARK NOH WAN REPUBLIC OF KOREA-VIETNAM
STRATEGIC COOPERATIVE PARTNERSHIP
AND THE WAY FORWARD IN THE NEW CONTEXT OF
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE CHANGE IN THE 21
ST
CENTURY DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
MAJOR: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INDEX NUMBER: 62310206
HANOI – 2014
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
AND TRAINING
MINISTRY OF
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
are authentic and precise. All the findings have never been published in any
other research study.

AUTHOR PARK NOH WAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thai Yen Huong for her instruction, support and
encouragement during my research process.
My sincere thanks are also due to teachers and staff at the Faculty of
Post Graduate Study, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, for offering me the
most favorable conditions to complete my dissertation.
Finally, I am grateful to all my family members, friends and colleagues
for their support and encouragement.

1.2.2. Characteristics of Recent Global Governance Change 20
1.2.2.1. Transition into Multi-Polar System: Declining US and Rising
China 20
1.2.2.2. Strengthening Regionalism: Expansion of Economic Blocks 24
1.2.2.3. Global Issues and Limitation of UN and G8 Roles 27
1.3. Global Governance: Reshaping and Prospects 30
1.3.1. Possibility of Reshaping Global Governance 30
1.3.2. Reshaping Prospects of Global Governance 32
1.4. Regional Governance Change in East Asia 34

1.4.1. General Overview 34
1.4.2. Northeast Asia: Regional Cooperation and Change 35
1.4.3. Southeast Asia: Regional Cooperation and Change 37
1.5. Remarks 40
CHAPTER 2: ROK AND VIETNAM: POLICY RESPONSES TO
GLOBAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNANCE CHANGE SINCE 1991 . 43
2.1. ROK and Vietnam: Responses to Global Governance Change 43
2.1.1. Why it was Necessary for ROK and Vietnam to Respond 43
2.1.2. ROK‟s Policy Responses 44
2.1.3. Vietnam‟s Policy Responses 48
2.2. Responses to the Global Economic Crisis on the Part of ROK and
Vietnam 52
2.2.1. Global Economic Crises and its Structural Trends 52
2.2.2. Policy Responses: ROK and Vietnam 54
2.3. Responses to Regional Governance Change: ROK and Vietnam . 58
2.3.1. Rising China and Regional Governance Change 58
2.3.2. Responses of ROK and Vietnam to Regional Governance
Change 63
2.4. Remarks 67
CHAPTER 3: ROK-VIETNAM BILATERAL RELATIONS AND WAYS

LIST OF REFERENCES 141

LIST OF ACRONYMS
AHF
Agape Hospital Fellowship
AKFTA
ASEAN-ROK Free Trade Agreement
APEC
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARF
ASEAN Regional Forum
ASEM
Asia – Europe Meeting
ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BRICS
Brazil, Russia, India, China and Republic of South Africa
EAI
East Asian Institute
EPS
Employment Permit System
EU
European Union
FDI
Foreign Direct Investment
FEALAC
Forum of East Asia-Latin America Cooperation
FTA
Free Trade Agreement
G8 (group of

KVFTA
ROK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement
MDGs
Millennium Development Goals
MERCOSUR
Common Market of South America
NAFTA
North America Free Trade Agreement
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NGO
Non-Governmental Organization
ODA
Official Development Assistance
OECD
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
PNTR
Permanent Normal Trade Relations
PPP
Purchasing Power Parity
RCEP
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnerships
ROK
Republic of Korea
SCO
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
SOE
State-owned Enterprise
TTIP
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: BRICS International Status and Future Prospects 24
Figure 2. Trans-Pacific Partnership Countries 26
Figure 3: Proportional Size of ROK, Chinese, and Japanese Economies in the
World 36
Figure 4: ROK, China and Japan Trade Trends 36
Figure 5: ROK, China and Japan Trade Ratio in World Trade 37
Figure 6: ASEAN GDP in the World 38
Figure 7: ASEAN members‟ GDP per capita (IMF 2012 estimates) 38
Figure 8: Total ROK Trade Volume 1957-2011 47
Figure 9: Global GDP Growth (percent, quarter over quarter) 53
Figure 10: Vietnam‟s Economic Growth & Inflation 2002 - 2010 57
Figure 11: Government Debt and Government Guaranteed Public Debt 58
Figure 12: ROK‟s Investment Trend in Vietnam 78
Figure 13: Bilateral Trade and Investment Trend 79
Figure 14: Top Ten Investing Countries in Vietnam 80
Figure 15: Trend of Vietnam‟s Trade Balance with ROK 81
Figure 16: Vietnam's Share in ROK's Total Trade with ASEAN 82
Figure 17: The Trend of Visitors to Vietnam 88
Figure 18: Comparison of ROK, Japan and Singapore Links with Vietnam
(2005-2013) 93
Figure 19: ROK-Vietnam Trade Deficit Trend 106
Figure 20: Energy and Oil Consumption Data 124
Figure 21: Dependence on Foreign Resources, Oil Dependence on the Middle

T. Friedman, – famous for his work on globalization, views, the future world as “Hot, Flat and Crowded”,
that is to say, characterized by the three trends of global warming, middle class society and increasing of
population, (from 6.7 billion in 2010 to 9.7 billion in 2050). A green revolution is the only strategy to
preserve the continued existence of human kind as well as the leadership power and the role of the United
States. 2
reshaped. In short, the relationships among powers which were created after
World War II are being restructured.
In the 21
st
century, relationship adjustments among powers will be one
of the main issues in world politics. This transition can be summarized under
the following three points: i) structural change in socialist systems, ii) shifts in
world power politics, and iii) changes in global actors‟ behavior. To be more
specific, after the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the
collapse of the socialist bloc worldwide. As a result, the world changed from
a bipolar to a uni-polar system, in which the United States became the leading
state. Many countries then began to move from socialist planned economies to
free market oriented ones, promoting the free exchange of goods and
personnel. The tone of world politics, too, changed from Hard Power Politics
–dominated by diplomatic, security and military issues to Soft Power Politics-
focusing on economics and culture. International actors began to address
global issues together through dialogue and friendly cooperation under the
basic principle of promoting peace and stability, and also fostered a
cooperative and unified spirit to deal with global issues.
In this complicated environment, the global governance change has
decisively, and in every aspect, influenced the development of ROK and
Vietnam relations. Around the middle of the 1980s, ROK and Vietnam were

“global governance”. However, up to now, works examining the ROK-
Vietnam Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the 21
st
century in the new
context of the global governance change have been lacking. The word “global
governance” has come into use with the rapid globalization since the 1990s.
Yet what exactly is “global governance”? Who governs the world? Both the 4
concept and the definition of “global governance” are rather vague. The
Commission on Global Governance
2
defines its subject very generally as “the
sum of the many ways in which individuals and institutions, public and
private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through
which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and cooperative
action taken.”[45, pp.7-8] However, the meaning of the term varies,
depending on the person employing it or the circumstances in which it is used.
The term does not have a precise definition because there is really no a
general consensus about its meaning [124].

Generally, “global governance” is a useful concept as a descriptive tool
for international cooperation; however, it has its limitations as an analytic
framework to explain the cause and effect relationship between cooperation
and conflict. Authors like James Rosenau have also used “governance” to
denote the regulation of interdependent relations in the absence of any
overarching political authority, such as in the international system. From a
slightly different perspective Robert Gilpin proposes Hegemonic Stability
Theory (HST), arguing that the international system is more likely to remain

rights and the growing influence of non-state actors; and sustainable
development/eco-development. However, this work cannot provide a clear-cut
answer to the main issues which the UN is now facing. The key issue of the
UN is how to reform the UN Security Council. With accelerated globalization
unprecedented global issues have arisen. A number of books, journals, and
articles dealing with global issues such as climate change, poverty, terrorism, 6
and human rights, are now being published. Among them are the “UN
International Panel Convention Climate Change (IPCCC) Report” and the
“Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change” by Nicholas Stern.
However, there are many coercive ways to address such global issues. As
noted above, research on the ROK-Vietnam Strategic Cooperative Partnership
has hitherto been limited. The Cold War prevented ROK and Vietnam from
establishing normal relations and engaging in people to people exchange. Of
course, ROK had good diplomatic relations with South Vietnam before
Vietnam‟s unification by North Vietnam in 1974. Nevertheless, from the
middle of the 1980s, both ROK and Vietnam began to exchange trade. The
article by Do Hai Nam, Ngo Xuan Binh and Sung Yeul Koo in “Economic
Cooperation between ROK and Vietnam in the Context of East Asian
Integration” notes that, while their relations were inaugurated commercial
during the second half of the 1980s, the ties remained limited to trade [3, pp.
419]. Around that time, ROK and Vietnam proclaimed new foreign policies to
respond to the rapid changes in the international environment. ROK opened
its “Northern Diplomacy,” while Vietnam adopted “Doi Moi (Reform and
Open Door Policy)” in 1986. These two diplomatic policies provided the
greatest impulse to strengthen ROK-Vietnam relations and bring them to their
present state. In this regard, Alexander Lam Vuving “The Shaping of Foreign
Policy: Vietnamese Grand Strategy after the Cold War” [115] sheds light on

policy guided South Korean efforts to reach out to the traditional allies of North Korea, with the ultimate
goal of normalized relations with the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, both to improve
the South's economy and to leave the North so isolated that it would have no choice but to open itself up
and reduce military tensions.
8
comprehensively “Vietnam-ROK strategic cooperative relations and their
future direction in the context of global governance change in the 21
st

century”. Ngo Xuan Binh‟s book entitled “The Relationship between Vietnam
and South Korea in the New International Context” [2, pp. 296-297] suggests
new ideas on upgrading the bilateral relationship to a “Strategic Cooperative
Partnership” in the 21
st
century. However, the book fails to put forward more
detailed strategic directions in response to the shifting patterns of recent world
governance, and also does not clarify the fundamental principles, global and
regional, on which a comprehensive 21
st
century “strategic cooperative
partnership” should be based.
3. The research objectives
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War has ended.
Moreover, both East and West Germany have been unified. Despite this,
many legacies of the Cold War persist in the East Asian region, especially in
the Korean peninsula. With the international order experiencing rapid change,
many new and complex global issues have arisen. Most of these are having an

special events and situations by international political theory
3) Trying to clarify the implications of these developments and
approaches for the Asian region, especially ROK and Vietnam, and analyzing
possible ways forward for both countries as they respond to bilateral issues
that might arise in the future
4) Examining realistic alternatives for ROK and Vietnam to upgrade and
develop their relations in all sectors, including political and military
cooperation 10
5) Proposing some recommendations for a “ROK-Vietnam new mid and
long term strategic vision”, a new strategic cooperative model in the years to
come.
5. Scope of the research
The period covered by this research shall be limited to that extending
from the end of the Cold War in 1991 to 2020. The dissertation analyzes the
global governance structure that was formed after the Second World War in
1945. It then provides an overview of global and regional governance changes
and their recent characteristics from the end of the Cold War to the present. It
also analyzes the responses of ROK and Vietnam to the global governance
changes during this period. The analysis of the strategic cooperative
partnership between ROK and Vietnam begins from 1992, when the two
countries established their diplomatic relations, and continues to cover the
following 30 years.
Regarding subject matter, the dissertation takes up the reshaping of
relations among major international actors, especially the United States and
China, along with international organizations such as UN, IMF, WB, G-8, G-
20 and ASEAN. It will also analyze power redistribution trends among the
great powers and examine their foreign policies in the East Asia region. The

change from the end of the Cold War to the present in a complete and
systematic manner. 12
- The dissertation endeavors to analyze the advantages, disadvantages and
prospects for each field of bilateral cooperation, as well as to propose various
recommendations to enhance cooperative efficiency in the coming years.
- The dissertation studies the bilateral relations between ROK and
Vietnam as well as the relations of the two countries with China, the United
States and other international actors, which helps deepen the readers‟
knowledge of international relations.
- The dissertation provides a reference material for the teaching and
studying of world history, global governance theory, and international
relations, especially the relations between Vietnam and ROK, at universities,
colleges, institutes, and research centers.
- The dissertation should be a useful reference source for foreign-policy
makers and planners on Vietnam‟s relations with ROK.
8. The structure of the dissertation
Apart from the Introduction, the Conclusion and the Appendix, the
dissertation will be organized in three chapters, as follows:
1) Chapter 1 analyzes “Global Governance Changes and Their
Characteristics” (including its early form and the transition process)
(1) Global Governance: Definition and Framework
(2) Governance Structure: Changes and Their Characteristics
(3) Global Governance: Reshaping and Prospects
(4) Regional Governance Change in the East Asia Region
2) Chapter 2 describes “Policy Responses of ROK and Vietnam to Global
and Regional Governance Change since 1991”


the global and regional governance structures which were formed after the
end of World War II. What exactly is global governance? Who governs the
world? According to Lawrence Finkelstein, “We say „governance‟ because
we do not really know what to call what is going on.” [30. pp. 367-368].
Globalization has brought along a new form of governance. It has become a
key term in the study of international political economy and international
relations, but the concept of global governance has not yet been defined for
“unanimous and unified usage in the study of international relations” [27, pp.
246]. Like globalization, governance can be conceived broadly or narrowly.
Most generally, the Commission on Global Governance defines its subject as
“the sum of the many ways in which individuals and institutions, public and
private, manage their common affairs.” [103, pp. 4]
In recent years, the term "global governance" has become a frequently
used expression as is shown by the publication of a journal of the same name.
However, the meaning of the term remains diverse depending on personal