The Vietnamese community’s role in the multicultural society in the Republic of Korea is becoming increasingly important, heard a conference on multicultural families in Busan, the Republic of Korea on October 28.

Opening the conference, President of the Association of People who Love Vietnam in the RoK (VIDAMO) Park Kwang-joo said this topic has drawn attention from both Vietnam and the RoK when their relationship is now deeply bonded by marriages between citizens of the two countries.

He expressed hopes that the conference, one of the many activities being held to celebrate the 20 th anniversary of Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties, will offer both communities to look at better ways of ensuring happiness for multi-cultural families.

According to Vietnamese Minister Counsellor Nguyen Manh Dong, around 50,000 Vietnamese women have married to Korean men in recent year and this number is likely to increase in the future.

He affirmed that Korean-Vietnamese families have made significant contributions to stepping up the two countries’ strategic cooperation.

Dong thanked the RoK government and its people for their warm feelings and the ceaseless support they have shown to the Vietnamese community in the RoK as well as Vietnamese-Korean families in particular.

He underlined that the children of Vietnamese-Korean families will contribute greatly to strengthening bilateral ties between both countries, delivering wishes to receive more assistance to maintain and safeguard a happy future for these families.

During the conference, the participants heard several reports on issues that are crucial for foreign women who start a married life in the RoK.

They also raised the necessity to establish an agency specialising on multicultural issues and focusing on supporting multicultural families.

The conference was co-organised by and the Centre for Vietnamese Studies at Youngsan University in Busan and the Association of People who Love Vietnam in the RoK.-VNA