Park, Xi to tackle NK nuclear issue
Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, Premier Li Keqiang, right, and Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress acknowledge journalists during the 18th Communist Party Congress at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in this Nov. 15 2012 file photo. President Park Geun-hye will hold a summit with Xi in Beijing on Thursday, followed by meetings with Li and Zhang the next day. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye will hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping today, the first day of a four-day state visit to China, to discuss how to cope with the North Korean nuclear quagmire.
It will be Park’s first state visit since she took office in February. Last month, she flew to the United States and met with U.S. President Barack Obama on an official visit.
After touching down in Beijing, Park will meet Xi and they will ink a joint communique laying out the two nation’s future vision.
However, it has yet to be confirmed if it will include the North Korean nuclear program or the resumption of the six-party talks.
“I think the South Korea-China summit has a special meaning as both countries ushered in new governments, and it comes at a more important juncture than at any other time in terms of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and from economic aspects,” Park said during a weekly meeting with senior secretaries Monday.
Following the summit, Park plans to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Friday, according to the presidential office.
The government expects the summit to pave the way to resolve unsettled North Korean issues, given that China, a major ally and biggest trading partner with the North, is viewed as the only country with any meaningful influence over Pyongyang.
“The state visit will serve as a momentum to harden South Korea-China cooperation for the sake of attaining the goal of North Korea’s denuclearization and strengthen cooperation and understanding of Park’s ‘trustpolitik’ initiative of building trust to ensure lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential foreign affairs and security secretary, said Wednesday.
On Saturday, she will address a forum of business leaders of the two countries, give a speech at a university in Beijing, and tour Korean firms operating in China before visiting Xian, a western Chinese city in which many Korean companies have presence.
Xian, an ancient capital of China, is an unusual choice for a presidential visit, given that her predecessors usually visited Shanghai.
Park’s visit to Xian, known as the political hometown of Xi, is seen as a move to strengthen ties between the two nations by paying tribute to Chinese culture as well as increase economic cooperation as it can serve as a foothold for Korean firms trying to expand to Central Asia and Europe.
Meanwhile, a record 71 business leaders including Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo and LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo are accompanying Park.
The number is much larger than the 36 who visited in 2008 when then President Lee Myung-bak went China, and the 51 in May when Park visited the United States.