A heartwarming story of a Korean tourist who repaid a Vietnamese woman in Seoul two years after she helped him during a scooter accident in Da Nang has gone viral online.
According to Vietnamese media outlets including VnExpress, Ngoc Anh, a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman, visited South Korea in March and reunited in Seoul with a Korean tourist identified only as "A," who had been involved in a scooter accident in Da Nang in 2022. A treated Anh and her friends to meals, showed them around the Seongsu-dong neighborhood and guided them on a shopping trip, repaying the help he received two years earlier.
The connection between the two began in 2022 when A and a friend were involved in a scooter accident in Da Nang. A sustained only minor injuries, but his companion suffered a serious injury, breaking an arm. Anh and her family immediately took the group — strangers with no shared language or local connections — to a hospital, stored the damaged scooter at their home and provided whatever help was needed. After seeing off his friend, who had to fly home early due to the arm fracture, A met Anh and her sibling that evening to express his gratitude. The next day, he asked for their help again to negotiate repair costs with a mechanic. Anh's family invited A to a family dinner and took him to a fireworks festival. A returned to South Korea with a promise: "If you ever come to Korea, I will definitely repay you."
Two years passed with little contact. When Anh began planning a trip to South Korea earlier this year, she recalled A's promise but hesitated to reach out, worried it may have been a mere pleasantry. "It took me two whole days to send a message," Anh said. "Even up to an hour before our meeting, my mind was still uneasy." But A replied immediately upon receiving her message, and a meeting was arranged.
When they reunited in Seoul in March, A treated Anh and her friends to meals and personally guided them around the Seongsu-dong area, including shopping. "He said, 'This time, I'll take care of everything,' and covered all the expenses," Anh said. A also invited her to his parents' home, but the visit did not happen due to scheduling conflicts.
"I felt that my goodwill had not been in vain," Anh said. "I didn't help him expecting anything in return, but just being able to meet again as friends made me truly happy." She also told local media, "I initially had a negative impression of Korean tourists, but I'm glad I gained a wonderful friendship."