Close communication ongoing after China protests Korea's support for Taiwan's int'l participation: gov't

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Feb. 13. Yonhap

Korea and China are maintaining close communication, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, after Beijing protested Seoul's support for Taiwan's participation in international organizations.

During a trilateral meeting with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, Foreign Ministry Cho Tae-yul expressed joint "support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in appropriate international organizations."

China's foreign ministry has since said it lodged a diplomatic complaint with the relevant nations, expressing objections to any interference with its sovereignty.

"Korea and China always maintain close communication on matters of mutual interest, under the shared understanding that careful management is needed to prevent standalone issues from affecting their bilateral relationship," foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said during a press briefing.

Lee also said the recent suspension of services in Korea by the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek was the result of discussions between the government and the app's operator.

Starting on Saturday, services of DeepSeek were suspended in Korea until necessary improvements and remedies are made in accordance with the local personal data protection law, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced the previous day. China's foreign ministry subsequently warned Seoul against turning economic and technology issues into security and political ones.

"The latest temporary suspension of DeepSeek's domestic services is not the result of Korea's unilateral, direct suspension, but a temporary measure (taken) through prior communication between the PIPC and China's DeepSeek," Lee stated. (Yonhap)