South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a summit today (15th) and discussed major issues at hand, including the issue of North Korea.
In the meeting, which lasted about 25 minutes in Bali, Indonesia, where the G20 summit was held, President Yoon spoke of North Korea’s frequent provocations and recent nuclear threats, saying, “China, as a permanent member of the Security Council (UN) and a neighboring country, more active and I look forward to playing a constructive role,” said the South Korean President’s Office.
In response, President Xi said, “The two countries have common interests in the Korean Peninsula issue,” and “I hope that South Korea will actively improve inter-Korean relations.”
Regarding the ‘Bold Initiative’, the policy towards North Korea of the Yoon Seok-yeol government, President Xi also said, “North Korea’s intention is the key,” and said, “If North Korea reacts, we will support and co-operate to ensure that the bold initiative is well implemented.”
Earlier, in his opening remarks at the summit, President Yoon said, “President Xi and I agreed to open a new era of cooperation between Korea and China through a telephone call in March and letters congratulating the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic establishment of Korea- China. ties in August.”
“Based on this consensus, our government will communicate closely with China and work together for a mature relationship between Korea and China based on respect and reciprocity,” he said.
Xi said, “China, together with the ROK side, is committed to maintaining and strengthening China-ROK relations, strengthening communication and cooperation on multilateral platforms such as the G20, and jointly creating true multilateralism to provide more positive energy and stability to the world . want,” he said.
The Office of the President of the Republic of Korea said that President Xi had not been able to visit Korea due to the corona pandemic, but that he would be pleased to accept President Yoon’s invitation to visit Korea when the corona situation stabilized to some extent, and that he hopefully President Yun would visit China at a convenient time. .
This South Korea-China summit comes two years and 11 months after former South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Xi met in Beijing, China in 2019.
VOA news
