By Kim Tae-gyu
President Park Geun-hye plans to visit China late next month, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.
“Park will make a state visit to Beijing and another city late June. Because it will be a state visit, Park and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have a state dinner,” Presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing said. “Park will also be given a guard of honor.”
Since the relationships between the two countries normalized in the early 1990s, Korean Presidents have embarked on six state visits to China.
In five of the six cases, their visits included cities like Shanghai, Qingdao an Cheongdu on top of Beijing.
After the visit to China, Park is expected to take part in the G-20 Summit this September, which will be held in Russia.
In the case of Japan, which incoming presidents tended to visit after the U.S. in consideration of its geographical proximity and diplomatic significance as well as its economic influence, Park is not likely to visit the island county in the near future.
The relationships between the two are at its lowest point since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office last December.
In addition, the bone of contention has been Korea’s easternmost islands of Dokdo, which Japan also is controversially claiming sovereignty to.