Foreign minister visits China to prepare for Moon-Xi summit

By Jun Ji-hye

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha left for Beijing Tuesday to hold bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart on a summit between President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which may take place next month in Beijing, and other bilateral issues.

Kang will meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wednesday. This is her first visit to China since she took office in June.

During their summit in Vietnam on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Nov. 12, Moon and Xi agreed to meet again in Beijing next month.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Kang and Wang will discuss the agenda for the summit.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday, “Kang and Wang will discuss how to develop and keep improving Seoul-Beijing relations.”

The top diplomats are also expected to discuss how to better cooperate in peacefully resolving North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, ministry officials here said.

For his part, Wang is expected to explain to Kang the outcome of the recent visit of Song Tao, Xi’s special envoy, to Pyongyang.

Song and other Chinese diplomats stayed in the North for four days from Friday, during which time they informed North Korean officials, including Choe Ryong-hae, the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, on the details of the recent 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Kang’s visit to China reflected the two nations’ determination to put their bilateral exchanges on a normal track at the earliest possible date as the two heads of state agreed to restore relations in all sectors. This agreement was construed as China indicating its willingness to stop its economic and cultural retaliations over the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here.