Young Korean women clad in Vietnamese áo dài on the streets of Hà Nội. VNS Photo Phương Hà

Nguyễn Mỹ Hà

If you live in Việt Nam today, or are just visiting and touring a marketplace, you will see small red plastic cups with napa cabbage kimchi.

Kimchi, a signature traditional pickled cabbage from Korea, is now commonly eaten along with Vietnamese items such as eggplant, figs, mustard greens, onions, and cabbages.

The Korean national dish is served daily in its home country, but here in Việt Nam, pickled mustard greens or little round eggplants are traditionally the staple food. "Thịt cá là hương hoa, tương cà là gia bản," goes a popular Vietnamese saying, which literally translates as "Meat and fish are just decorations, while soya sauce and pickled veggies are the true household staples."

This saying also carries another meaning; that simple rustic things remain faithful to you for a long time, while decoration comes and goes easily. In life one needs to know what is irreplaceable and good for you, despite the colourful or flashy decorations.

The relationship between South Korea and Việt Nam is currently flourishing, with the highest level of diplomatic visits and strategic partnership.

In 1992, the Republic of Korea opened its first embassy in Hà Nội and, in early 1993, Việt Nam opened an embassy in Seoul.

The relationship grew stronger over the years, with both countries confirming a mutual partnership in 2001. In 2009, the relationship was lifted to a strategic partnership, then in 2022 to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

At the grassroots level, the people of both countries share a special bond for culture, food and the arts. The so-called hallyu, or Korean wave, sent popular culture not only to Việt Nam, but across the world. K-pop exploded globally, and K-drama series drew viewers around the globe to breathe the ups and downs of the plots at every mealtime.

GRADUATED: Phạm Hồng Nhung, a graduate from Daegu University in International Education, wears a traditional five-flap long dress during her graduation ceremony. Photo courtesy of Hồng Nhung

Meanwhile, Korean fashion also encourages the rest of Asia to dress like Koreans, as if living like they are the heirs of powerful chaebols.

The Korean beauty industry taps into the preferences of many to have a fair complexion and great skin. And Korean food, represented symbolically by kimchi, is another aspect of the Korean wave.

But the relationship between Việt Nam and South Korea goes deeper than just these influential waves.

The overseas Vietnamese community in South Korea is the biggest among the ASEAN states. Young Vietnamese workers top the list at nearly 100,000 people, followed by more than 90,000 Vietnamese students currently studying at Korean education institutions, according to 2024 statistics. Last but not least are young trainees throwing themselves into rigorous training by entertainment companies in an attempt to become future pop culture idols.

The total number of Vietnamese people is somewhere close to 350,000 in all of South Korea.

On my Vietnam Airlines flight to Seoul, I met some bright young people who said they were from Nghệ An Province.

"In my Catholic village, 150 people have gone to Korea to work," a young man told me.

"If you could earn as much as VNĐ40-50 million (US$1,900) working in Việt Nam, we probably would stay. But the payment is higher there, so we hope to work for a few years to save a bigger sum to start up."

Meanwhile, many Vietnamese women are currently making homes in South Korea, taking care of the parents-in-law and raising the next generation of multi-cultural families.

"Vietnamese women are very capable," noted a Seoul-based Vietnamese worker to me when I asked about the lives of women who have married Korean men.

"They agree to live with the parents and give birth to children, which is not often the choice Korean women want to make," he said. "They go out to get a job, they have incomes, they make great Vietnamese and Korean food for the family, and are respected by their in-laws."

During every major Vietnamese tradition, they will give a hand making food and arranging the venue, and do so while clad in Korean attire.

Not all of them lead decent lives, of course, but they breathe new air into their adoptive home country, maintain parts of their tradition and ensure the home of their family evolves and flourishes.

Ultimately, when they are the homemakers and they make good food, no one can resist a boiling hot kimchi soup or Vietnamese noodle soup.

In a faraway land, each and every Vietnamese person is a cultural and culinary ambassador who builds bonding from heart to heart, without any formal strings attached.

In South Korea, they call Việt Nam an in-law country. And the in-laws do not necessarily need to be best friends in reality, but they have a common interest in taking care of their grandchildren, who can carry on not only the bloodline, but also both cultures that nurture them. VNS