APEC 2025: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese language President Xi Jinping agreed to make efforts to advertise peace on the Korean Peninsula, Nationwide Safety Adviser Wi Sung-lac stated, as Seoul hopes Beijing will play a job to renew talks with Pyongyang. Lee additionally requested Xi to play a “constructive” function for South Korea to hunt peace and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, Wi instructed reporters, after Lee welcomed Xi’s first go to to South Korea in 11 years to attend the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation summit held within the southeastern metropolis of Gyeongju.
Throughout the summit, Lee famous that high-level exchanges between North Korea and China have lately develop into extra lively, calling it a optimistic improvement that creates circumstances for renewed engagement with Pyongyang, Yonhap information company reported.
“I hope that the Republic of Korea and China will strengthen their strategic communication, make use of those circumstances and work towards resuming dialogue with North Korea,” he stated in his opening remarks, referring to South Korea’s official title. “It could by no means be overstated how essential regional safety is.”
On financial ties, Lee stated bilateral financial cooperation has shifted from a “vertical construction” to a “horizontal one,” emphasizing the necessity to construct a “mutually helpful” relationship.
Xi stated China values its relations with South Korea and can preserve coverage consistency and stability, expressing Beijing’s willingness to deepen communication with Seoul.
“(China) is keen to deepen communication with South Korea and collectively tackle challenges, whereas selling the secure and long-term improvement of the bilateral strategic relationship and contributing higher vitality to peace and improvement within the area,” Xi stated via a translator.
Xi described South Korea and China as “shut neighbors who can not transfer aside and inseparable companions in cooperation,” saying the 2 international locations have achieved co-prosperity via sustained exchanges and collaboration.
“Selling the wholesome and secure improvement of China-South Korea relations has all the time been within the pursuits of each peoples and is a alternative in step with the spirit of the instances,” he stated.
Following the summit, Lee stated he and Xi agreed to work collectively in pursuit of peace, noting that the 2 international locations share a standard aim of selling stability and prosperity.
“I and President Xi have agreed to maneuver ahead unwaveringly collectively on the trail towards peace,” Lee stated throughout a state dinner with Xi. “As our authorities works to open a brand new period of peaceable coexistence and shared progress, I anticipate that China may even play a constructive function on this course of.”
On the sidelines of the talks, the governments of the 2 nations signed seven memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to broaden cooperation in sensible areas.
The central banks of the 2 international locations signed an settlement to resume their foreign money swap deal value 70 trillion received (US$48.9 billion) for an additional 5 years.
The 2 sides additionally signed an MOU on strengthening exchanges and providers and commerce to make progress in negotiations to improve their free commerce settlement.
One other settlement paved the way in which for cooperation between the 2 nations’ regulation enforcement businesses to collaborate on responses to voice phishing and on-line rip-off crimes.
Wi evaluated that the summit marked the “full restoration” of Seoul-Beijing ties achieved via the Lee administration’s “pragmatic” diplomacy centered on nationwide pursuits.
Throughout the talks, Lee outlined his authorities’s initiatives for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and requested for Xi’s constructive efforts to assist resume dialogue with North Korea. Xi, in flip, stated China would proceed its efforts to advertise peace and stability on the peninsula, Wi instructed reporters.
“The 2 leaders shared the view that the US is crucial nation to renew talks with North Korea,” Wi stated.
The discussions additionally coated delicate points, together with China’s latest sanctions on US subsidiaries of Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, which Beijing accused of cooperating with a US investigation into China’s maritime and shipbuilding industries.
“There have been productive discussions concerning Hanwha Ocean, which is linked to the continued commerce dispute between the US and China,” he stated. “I sensed that if tensions between Washington and Beijing ease, Hanwha Ocean might additionally see productive progress in that environment.”
Different factors of competition, similar to China’s set up of metal buildings in overlapping areas of the Yellow Sea and Beijing’s restrictions on Korean cultural imports, had been additionally mentioned, Wi stated, with out elaborating on the main points.
“Each side shared the understanding that the problems wanted to be resolved via continued communication,” he stated.
