President Lee Jae Myung waits for the start of a senior secretaries meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung waits for the start of a senior secretaries meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung met Thursday morning with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party and China's foreign minister, who is visiting South Korea, to discuss the direction of bilateral relations and avenues for high-level exchanges.

Meeting Wang at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said the two countries were building "a clear achievement of fully restoring South Korea-China relations" following his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year and this year. He also welcomed the two governments' efforts to deepen horizontal and mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic sphere on the basis of political trust, and said friendship and trust between the two peoples were growing stronger.

Wang conveyed Xi's greetings and expressed gratitude for Lee and the South Korean government's hospitality. He said bilateral relations were maintaining a stable trajectory of development, grounded in the shared understanding reached through the two leaders' reciprocal state visits. Wang added that China would play an active role in faithfully implementing the follow-up measures the two leaders had agreed upon, so that the positive momentum could be sustained and the 35th anniversary of diplomatic normalization next year marked in a meaningful way.

Wang also said he hoped South Korea, which successfully hosted last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, would support the APEC summit China will host in Shenzhen in November. He added that China would spare no effort in preparing for high-level exchanges between the two countries at Shenzhen.

In response, Lee said South Korea, as last year's APEC chair, wished China every success in hosting the Shenzhen summit and would provide whatever support was needed. He said he hoped the two sides would together produce results that benefit the lives of their peoples — and that bilateral ties would grow even closer — as the leaders' meetings continued from Gyeongju last November and Beijing in January to Shenzhen this November.

Lee also asked Wang to maintain close strategic communication with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on bilateral relations and Korean Peninsula issues.

Lee recalled his January meeting with Xi and asked Wang to convey his warm regards to the Chinese president. Wang responded in kind and expressed his thanks.


sunpine@heraldcorp.com