SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea hopes to normalise relations with China that have been strained in recent years, a special envoy from Seoul told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday, and agreed to boost economic cooperation, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sent a special delegation led by former parliament speaker Park Byeong-seug to his country’s main trading partner as he travels to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.
Lee arrived in Washington early on Monday.
Park told Wang he hoped the countries would work together to “open the door to normalising South Korea-China relations, which have been strained in recent years,” according to his comments relayed by South Korean TV.
Park handed Wang a letter from Lee to Chinese President Xi Jinping and invited Xi to the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping in October, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Wang welcomed the delegation’s visit and appreciated the message of developing ties between the countries, the ministry said.
“(South Korea’s) new government will pursue a mature development of South Korea-China strategic cooperation partnership based on national interest while continuing to develop the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” Park said.
The two sides agreed to work towards substantive progress on economic and supply chain cooperation, the ministry said.
In a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang said that development of both countries’ ties has shown that good neighbourliness, seeking common ground while reserving differences and expanding cooperation are the “right choices”.
Wang added that China’s policy is to maintain stability and continuity with South Korea and he urged both sides to “improve national sentiment and manage sensitivities properly” to move bilateral relations forward steadily.
Diplomatic ties between the countries have improved since a 2017 dispute over South Korea’s deployment of a U.S. missile defence system, which Beijing opposed.
But they exchanged harsh words in 2023 about critical comments on Beijing by South Korea’s last president, Yoon Suk Yeol.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Jack Kim; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ed Davies and Michael Perry)
