Secretary of Hanoi Communist Party to visit Pyongyang
According to the Vietnamese state newspaper the secretary of the Communist Party Nong Duc Manh will visit North Korea in the near future. No details on the reason for the trip revealed.

Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh, will visit North Korea “in the near future” on an invitation from Dictator Kim Jong-il. The news was reported today in the Vietnamese state newspaper Nhan Dan, which fails to specify the reasons for the journey.

An anonymous official at the Ministry for Foreign Affaire explains that the two nations – both officially communist – are agreeing on the final details of the trip, which should take place immediately after the North Korean Prime Ministers visit to Vietnam, set for the end of October.

Hanoi and Pyongyang have been ideological allies for quite some time, but commercial links between the two have not been of a high priority.  Vietnam has established commercial trade with South Korea over the last ten years, since then it has become the regimes closet economic partner.