Kim and Lam Deepen State Ties Behind Closed Doors

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to expand relations with Vietnam in a reply to President To Lam, while the reported progress centers on leaders, ministers and state institutions—not any public or community role. Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday that Kim sent his reply Monday, continuing a diplomatic exchange between the two governments.

Power at the Leaders’ Table

Kim wrote that “The traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, which entered a new development period after our Pyongyang meeting last October, will further expand and develop in the common interests of the two peoples.” That language invokes shared interests, but the account describes decisions and agreements handled by national leaders. It gives no detail about how either population took part in setting those priorities or what specific benefits people might receive.

Lam sent Kim a letter on Sept. 9 to mark the 78th anniversary of North Korea's national founding. In his letter last month, Lam said bilateral relations had strengthened steadily since the summit and both sides had carried out the leaders' agreements. He also said Vietnam was ready to work with North Korea for regional and global peace and stability.

Those statements present cooperation as a matter settled at the top. The report names no grassroots initiative, mutual-aid effort or community-organized response alongside the diplomatic exchanges. It doesn't identify any electoral or legislative process tied to the agreements, either. The story is about state-to-state relations, with ordinary people appearing in Kim's phrase “the two peoples,” rather than as named participants in the decisions.

Security Officials Join the Talks

The relationship has warmed since Lam's October visit to North Korea, the first by a top Vietnamese leader to the country in 18 years. Kim and Lam met in Pyongyang last October. Then contacts reached beyond the two leaders: in May, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui in Pyongyang.

The following month, the countries' security ministers held talks there on cooperation in public security and law enforcement. The report provides no further details about what the cooperation would involve, what agreements the ministers reached, or how it might affect people subject to public-security and law-enforcement systems. That silence matters: officials with institutional authority are the named participants, while the people governed by those systems aren't quoted.

The Official Record

A photo caption identifies Kim Jong-un and To Lam at a banquet in Pyongyang following their talks on Oct. 9, 2025. The Korean Central News Agency provided the photo the following day. The image and reported correspondence place the relationship in official settings, from summit talks and a banquet to letters exchanged by national leaders.

KCNA reported Kim's pledge in the language of friendship, cooperation and common interests. Lam's earlier letter described strengthened ties and the implementation of leaders' agreements. Neither account, as presented here, supplies public testimony or details of a community role. What the report does document is a steady chain of contact among leaders, foreign ministers and security ministers—and the expansion of official cooperation that follows from it.