Vietnam Pictorial’s Korean language online version makes debut

VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi (L) at the launching ceremony (Source: VNA)

Vietnam Pictorial, one of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s publications, on October 16 hosted a ceremony to launch a Korean-language column on its website, http://vietnam.vnanet.vn , and celebrate the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the magazine (October 15, 1954-October 15, 2015).

Speaking at the event, VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi stressed that the launch was a step in the right direction, in accordance with the Party and State’s goals, and VNA’s aim to improve foreign information services and diversify information products.

He urged Vietnam Pictorial to maintain the site and update it regularly with high-quality content. He also expressed his hope that the magazine’s staff will promote activeness and creativity to make Vietnam Pictorial a strong, effective unit of the VNA.

According to Nguyen Thang, Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Pictorial, the strategic co-operation partnership between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) has recorded increasingly strong development in many fields.

The signing of the Vietnam-RoK free trade agreement in May this year should help lift two-way trade to 70 billion USD by 2020.

With an aim of exchanging more information and promoting cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK, Vietnam Pictorial published the Vietnam-Korea Times, the first and only Korean-language paper in Vietnam, in December 2013, followed by the online Korean-language column.

Thang said he hoped the newly launched Korean online version will serve as a bridge promoting connection between the two countries, deepening the bilateral strategic partnership for the prosperity and happiness of the two peoples.

Launched in 1954, the Vietnam Pictorial is an important foreign information channel for the Party and State. It has been around for 670 editions, with approximately 50 million copies issued internationally, featuring the historical and cultural values of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups.

Currently, it publishes print versions in English, Chinese, Spanish and Lao and the online versions in 10 languages: Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Laotian, Khmer and Korean at vietnam.vnanet.vn.-VNA