President Lee Jae Myung (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Jan. 5 wave at children attending the official welcoming ceremony for both leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Yonhap News)

By Park Hye Ri

President Lee Jae Myung, on a state visit to China, on Jan. 5 attended a bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on in-depth methods of raising bilateral cooperation and regional security affairs such as the Korean Peninsula.

This was the second meeting between both leaders after their first in November last year in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

"This summit will serve as a crucial opportunity to make 2026 the first year of fully restored relations between Korea and China," President Lee said at the talks held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "I believe efforts will continue unabated to develop the bilateral partnership for strategic cooperation into an irreversible trend of this generation."

"Today's meeting is the first state visit and summit diplomacy schedule of the Year of Byeongoh (Red Horse) for both President Xi and me," he added. "Following the trends and changes of the times, I wish to open a new chapter in the development of bilateral ties together with President Xi."

President Lee also stressed bilateral cooperation in the people's livelihoods and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"We will continue horizontal and mutually beneficial cooperation in sectors directly related to people's daily lives and further boost efforts to resolve livelihood issues," he said. "We will jointly explore feasible alternatives to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula."

"Friends grow closer the more they get to know each other and neighbors grow closer the more they interact with each other," President Xi said in response. "As friends and neighbors, Korea and China must interact more often and communicate more diligently,"

"We've held two summits and visited each other in just two months," he added. "This shows that both countries consider bilateral relations very important."

National Security Office Director Wi Sung-lac in a briefing after the talks said, "(The summit) solidified the basis for bilateral political trust and friendly sentiment," adding, "We reached a consensus to continue annual summits in line with the full restoration of bilateral relations."

Both leaders also agreed to gradually expand cultural and content exchanges step by step starting with sectors acceptable to both sides, in addition to advancing detailed discussions.

The two leaders also stressed the importance of making the Yellow (West) Sea a "peaceful and mutually prosperous sea" for the stable and long-term development of bilateral ties, pledging to continue constructive talks on the issue of Chinese structures in the Yellow Sea.

hrhr@korea.kr