President Park Geun-hye has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that her administration considers the Korea-China relationship to be important and that it has a strong will to further advance bilateral ties in the future.

President Park met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province, China, on Sept. 5, and the two leaders shared their views on the future direction of Seoul-Beijing ties and on issues involving the Korean Peninsula.





President Park told her Chinese host that, “Many recent international challenges are global issues, and, for this reason, cooperation among countries is becoming more important than ever.”

Mentioning North Korea’s fourth nuclear weapons test and its firing of ballistic missiles earlier this year, President Park said that Pyongyang’s provocations seriously damage peace on the Korean Peninsula and across the region, and that they also pose a challenge to the development of Korea-China relations.

“I hope both countries can turn this challenge into an opportunity in order to make bilateral relations even firmer through sincere communication,” said President Park.

“We all need new views and new approaches in order to effectively respond to the various security and economic challenges we face,” she said.

President Xi told President Park that, “As China and Korea are close neighbors and have shared interests, we cherish political cooperation with Korea.”

“We need to play an active role in order to overcome difficulties and challenges, to make Seoul-Beijing ties stable, to develop bilateral ties in a sound manner, and for the development of peace across the region and around the world,” he said.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Cheong Wa Dae
arete@korea.kr