Vietnamese Communist Party leader visits North Korea

"Chairman Kim (of the North's National Defence Commission) and secretary general Manh together inspected the honour guard of the North Korean army, navy and air force as a 21-gun salute was fired," a report by North Korea's state radio station said, monitored by South Korean Yonhap news agency.

Accompanying the Communist Party leader - who has no official government role but is considered one of Vietnam's most influential leaders - are Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem and officials from ministries of culture, sports, tourism, industry and commerce, and agriculture, according to the website of Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Vietnam also announced last month that Kim Jong Il planned to visit Hanoi at an unspecified date in the future.

Hanoi keeps diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea, although the two communist regimes are not as close as they were during the Cold War.

While Vietnam embraced market capitalism 20 years ago, North Korea remains a centrally planned agrarian economy closed to much of the outside world.

The two countries have not engaged in any significant level of trade with each other in the past decade.

Meanwhile, South Korea is one of the largest investors in Vietnam.

Rumours have circulated in recent months that Vietnam might host diplomatic talks with North Korean officials and the other five nations involved in talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to verify its agreement to stop enriching materials for nuclear weapons.

Manh is also scheduled to visit South Korea in the middle of November, according to Yonhap.//DPA