President will make state visit to China

Park, Xi to hold summit June 27

Chinese President Xi Jinping

By Kim Tae-gyu

President Park Geun-hye will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first day of her visit to China from June 27 to 30, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

The summit is expected to play a crucial role in inter-Korean relations, which are showing signs of improving as the two are set to hold a minister-level meeting next week for the first time in six years. Beijing has a big say in Pyongyang as its main benefactor.

“Through the visit, the two leaders who took office early this year will further strengthen bilateral trust. It will work as a historical moment to phase in a new relationship between the two,” Park’s spokeswoman Kim Haing said.

The Park-Xi summit will come on the heels of the Chinese leader’s visit to the U.S. for a meeting with President Barack Obama.

This could mean that the Seoul-Beijing relationship will be strengthened at the cost of Pyongyang’s ties with its sole benefactor country, analysts point out.

There have been some signs that the close ties between the North and China have been fraying since Xi took office in the aftermath of the former’s third nuclear test on Feb. 12.

The maneuver faced unprecedentedly strong U.N. sanctions and unlike the past, China was active in deciding and executing the measures.

Once Park’s visit was announced without details, the North hurriedly sent a high-level envoy, its leader Kim Jong-un’s confidante of Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, to meet Xi.

At the meeting, Choe promised to have a multi-platform meeting including the long-stalled six-party talks, which were designed to stop the North’s nuclear programs.

On top of North Korea, the two leaders will discuss Park’s initiative of securing peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia. She has called for stronger political collaboration among the countries in the region.

Economic issues are also predicted to be on the table such as ways of expanding trade and boosting cooperation in information technology, the environment, finance and energy.

China is South Korea’s largest trade partner and the two neighboring countries have worked on signing a free-trade agreement to further increase bilateral trade.

After the summit and a state dinner on June 27, Park will meet with other Chinese political leaders, visit Korean firms there and deliver a speech at a Chinese university.

She will also have meetings with Korean entrepreneurs accompanying her and ethnic Koreans in the world’s most populous country.

Park plans to visit another Chinese city but Kim refused to confirm which, citing security.

The state visit will mark her second overseas trip since her U.S. visit early in May. Park is also the first president to visit China ahead of Japan.