South Korean MNE praises recovery of relations with Beijing

O south Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun highlighted to the Chinese counterpart the “recovery and development” of relations between Seoul and Beijing after exchanges of visits between the respective presidents.

During a meeting held on Friday in the Chinese capital, Cho said that meetings between the leaders of both countries made it possible to consolidate the consensus reached and stressed the increase in exchanges.

According to a statement issued Friday night by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomat expressed Seoul's willingness to continue to boost bilateral cooperation.

For his part, the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, pointed out that since the end of 2025, contacts between the presidents, Xi Jinping and Lee Jae-myung, have contributed to direct bilateral relations towards sustained “improvement and development”.

The head of Chinese diplomacy noted that trade between the two countries has returned to record levels and that the flow of people among nations can reach ten million this year.

“China and South Korea are inseparable neighbors. Maintaining friendship and good neighbourly relationships is the right choice for both parties,” Wang said, who advocated strengthening mutual trust and maintaining dialogue at different levels.

The minister also urged the extension of cooperation in emerging areas, such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, green economy and low carbon-emission industries, to promote “new sources of economic growth”.

Both sides also addressed the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, to be celebrated in 2027.

The Chinese communiqué did not detail whether the two diplomats dealt with the North Korean issue during the meeting, with which Beijing has intensified contacts in recent months.

Relations between Beijing and Seoul have been brought closer since Lee came to power in 2025 after years of tensions linked, among other things, to the alignment of South Korea with the United States and to differences in regional security.

The resumption of high-level contacts began to take shape with the meeting between Xi and Lee in November 2025, during the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) held in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, followed by the South Korean President's visit to China last January.

The Friday meeting between Wang and Cho took place a few days before the APEC summit of leaders, which takes place on November 18th and 19th in Shenzhen, southeast China.

South Korea and China are part of the 21 economies of APEC, which will address issues related to trade opening, innovation and regional cooperation.