N Korea FM in Vietnam for lessons on economic reform

Hanoi: North Korea's foreign minister kicked off an official visit to Vietnam Friday as the hermit nation seeks to learn lessons from the one-party state's post-war economic reform that has transformed the communist nation into one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

Ri Yong Ho is expected to meet with leaders in Hanoi and visit a hi-tech zone and speak to agricultural experts, according to state media and diplomatic sources.

North Korea, with an economy long crippled by wide-ranging sanctions and years of self-imposed isolation, is seeking to learn from Vietnam's "doi moi" economic reforms introduced in the 1980s, according to Seoul's official Yonhap News

Agency.

Vietnam's economy has flourished as it has embraced market reforms, opened its doors to foreign investment and embraced free trade deals, with GDP growth hitting five per cent or higher for the past decade.

It has done so while maintaining a single-party state with a tight grip on power and little tolerance for dissent, a model that experts say could appeal to Pyongyang.

It may be using the current diplomatic thaw following a series of meetings with Seoul and Washington -- including a landmark summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in June -- to disarm its nuclear programme, Vietnam expert Carl Thayer said.