Samsung confirms plan for Vietnam handset plant

SEOUL, March 21 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world's second-biggest mobile phone maker, said on Friday it would set up a mobile phone plant in Vietnam, confirming an earlier comment from a Vietnamese official.

Samsung said in a filing to the Korea Exchange that it would initially invest $50 million in the plant.

A Vietnamese provincial official said earlier that Samsung could invest up to $670 million in the plant, to be built in northern Vietnam.

A Samsung spokesman declined to give other details. (Reporting by Rhee So-eui, editing by Jacqueline Wong)