Minister Cho of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with Wang Yi, director general of the office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China and foreign minister, on the 17th. The top diplomats of Korea and China agreed on building a strategic cooperative partnership and said they hope ties will become closer on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Gyeongju in October.
Minister Cho met Director General Wang at Diaoyutai in Beijing at about 5:50 p.m. (local time) that day. It is her first visit to China since taking office. Former Minister Cho Tae-yul visited China in May last year, and by diplomatic convention it would have been Director General Wang's turn to visit Korea this time, but the trip to China took place in line with Minister Cho's intention not to be bound by the sequence.
Director General Wang welcomed Minister Cho's visit to China, saying, "China and South Korea are important trading partners to each other, and it is necessary to meet and communicate frequently." He added, "Both sides must keep the original intent at the time of establishing diplomatic relations, continue to work to move in a friendly direction, uphold the goal of mutual benefit and common prosperity, and become a genuine strategic cooperative partner in both name and reality."
Director General Wang also referred to the late Lee Jae-seok, a Coast Guard sergeant who died in the line of duty while rescuing a Chinese man in his 70s who was stranded on a mudflat in Ongjin County, Incheon, saying, "We express condolences for the sacrifice and ask that you convey our heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family." He then mentioned an incident in which a Chinese bus driver in Zhangjiajie, China, carrying a group of South Korean tourists, managed to stop the bus and prevent an accident even as he lost consciousness due to a cerebral hemorrhage, saying, "There are many touching and friendly stories between the two countries, and if we discover and promote them, we will be able to maintain good friendly sentiments."
Minister Cho responded, "I hope that, as we continue to foster good feelings among our peoples, Korea-China relations will mature further and develop in depth. To that end, I look forward to working out measures through various meetings and discussions."
She continued, "In particular, the APEC summit will be held in Gyeongju at the end of October. It is very meaningful that the APEC summit will be held in Korea and then in China next year," adding, "We hope this will lead to closer Korea-China relations. We also hope President Xi Jinping will come to the summit and visit Korea as well."
Minister Cho and Director General Wang held talks for about an hour and then began dinner around 7 p.m. Minister Cho is expected to discuss specific details regarding President Xi's visit to Korea, the development of Korea-China cooperative relations, issues on the Korean Peninsula, and the issue of structures in the Yellow Sea.