Vietnamese village project in S.Korea to be funded by host government

The South Korean government will put aside an initial budget of over US$150,000 for a Vietnamese village development project in North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea in 2024, a South Korean lawmaker announced on Monday. The project, which is constructing a Vietnamese village in the province’s Bonghwa County, will be funded by the central government next year, with an initial fund of 200 million won (US$150,300), the Vietnam News Agency cited parliamentarian Park Hyeong Soo as telling the media. Accordingly, a Vietnamese-Korean historical-cultural experience center and a road leading to Baekdudaegan National Arboretum, which have been built by local authorities for the project, will be put in the list of national funding recipients. The project to develop a Vietnamese village in Bonghwa was firstly introduced as a local project, but local authorities have been making great efforts to lobby for it to be converted and expanded into a national project, according to the lawmaker. The inclusion of the project in the 2024 government’s budget plan will pave the way for its transformation into a national project in the near future.