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Viet Nam Customs and Korea Customs Service tighten and expand substantive bilateral cooperation

On November 3, 2026, on the sidelines of the Global Trade Facilitation Policy Conference 2026 in Seoul, South Korea, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Director General of Viet Nam Customs, held a bilateral working meeting with Mr. Park Heon, Deputy Commissioner of Korea Customs Service (KCS).

At the meeting, the Deputy Commissioner of KCS highly appreciated the substantive and in-depth relations between Viet Nam Customs and KCS. He also expressed sincere gratitude to Viet Nam Customs for its practical and effective cooperation over the past years, as well as the regular and active support extended to the Customs Counsellor of South Korea in Viet Nam.

Deputy Director General Nguyen Thanh Hung at the bilateral meeting with the Deputy Commissioner of Korea Customs Service

For his part, Deputy Director General Nguyen Thanh Hung affirmed the importance of the long-lasting and effective cooperative relation between the two customs administrations in facilitating trade, ensuring supply chain security, and enhancing customs management effectiveness. Especially in the context that bilateral trade volume between the two countries is projected to reach $100 billion by the end of 2026, the cooperative efforts between the two customs administrations over the past period have become even more practical, contributing to the enhancement of the economic and trade relations between the two nations.

Both sides acknowledged the positive results achieved in recent times, notably the signing of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Authorized Economic Operators (AEO MRA) on December 24, 2024. This is the first bilateral AEO MRA of Viet Nam Customs, marking an important milestone that contributes to facilitating import-export activities and reducing compliance costs for the business community of both countries. The two sides agreed to continue their efforts in preparing the necessary conditions to effectively implement the Agreement, so as to bringing the benefits of the AEO MRA for both trading community and customs administrations by the nearest time.

Also at the meeting, the two sides discussed several priority cooperation areas that are expected to be included in the agenda of the 18^th High-level Bilateral Meeting between Viet Nam Customs and Korea Customs Service, which will take place in Hanoi in early December 2026, as follows:

• Combating intellectual property rights (IPR) violations: The two sides acknowledged the progress in exchanging the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on preventing cross-border goods infringing upon IPR and agreed to accelerate the finalization and harmonization of the MoU contents so it can be signed during the upcoming high-level bilateral meeting.
• Joint enforcement on prevention of drug trafficking: Based on high appreciation for the results of information exchange coordination and the implementation of the joint drug investigation campaigns maintained annually since 2023, and in light of the complex developments of transnational drug crimes, the two sides agreed to continue enhancing the sharing of operational intelligence, new methods and tricks, as well as exchanging experiences and upgrading professional capacity for more effective customs control.
• Application of cutting-edge technology for customs management purposes: Viet Nam Customs expressed special interest in the core technology used in the electronic clearance system of Korea Customs Service - UNIPASS and desired to continue receiving shared experiences from Korea Customs Service in building and developing this system. On the side of Korea Customs Service, Deputy Commissioner Park Heon affirmed that Korea Customs Service is always ready to accompany and openly share with Viet Nam Customs regarding the UNIPASS system as well as the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in big data analytics to support increasingly effective customs management in the digital transformation era.

The two delegations pose a group photo at the conclusion of the meeting

Concluding the bilateral working session, leaders of the two customs administrations expressed their confidence in the substantive and effective development of bilateral cooperation in the coming time; and reaffirmed their determination to continue maintaining regular exchange mechanisms at both leadership and operational levels, thereby continuously building on the achievements and expanding the scope of cooperation to meet the requirements of modern customs management and development trends of international trade.