South Korea, China hold talks at the highest level since the outbreak of COVID-19

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea said on Saturday that it was holding talks with China’s top diplomat on trade, denuclearization and the response to the coronavirus, in the first visit by a senior Beijing official since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. erupted last year.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party Politburo, met with South Korea’s new national security adviser, Suh Hoon, in the southern port city of Busan, the South Korean government said.

The two sides discussed issues such as accelerating negotiations on a free trade agreement, expanding cultural exchanges and also the election of the World Trade Director (WTO), South Korean President Kang Min-seok said in a statement. .

Kang added that Yang addressed China’s position on current US-China relations and Suh reiterated the importance of US-China cooperative relations for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia.

The talks come after the COVID-19 pandemic underwent bilateral exchanges and halted deuclearization negotiations involving North Korea.

The two countries reversed the exchange last month when Seoul sent a high-level diplomat to a bilateral economic meeting.

Suh, who took over the top security post last month after serving as intelligence chief, also discussed a possible trip to Seoul by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kang said the two countries agreed to make Xi’s visit to South Korea happen immediately when the COVID-19 situation stabilized, adding that China called South Korea a priority for President Xi to visit.

Yang said China will continue to talk and cooperate with South Korea to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Both sides also voted on the need to hold the South Korean-China-Japan summit within this year.

Yang arrived on Friday and is due to leave on Saturday, the government said in a statement.