The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on the 1st called the South Korea-China summit a "major achievement by the government that upheld the principle that 'peace is the economy.'" By contrast, the opposition People Power Party assessed it as an "empty-handed South Korea-China summit that failed to resolve pressing issues."
Park Soo-hyun, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, said in a commentary that "at the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited Korea for the first time in 11 years, we signed seven MOUs, including a currency swap, and strengthened cooperation in services and trade exchanges, alongside discussions on denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula," adding that "it made clear that Korea and China will move beyond a simple restoration of ties to walk the path of cooperation."
He added, "With this, the Republic of Korea, in less than five months since the launch of the new administration, successfully held all the South Korea-United States-Japan-China summits."
Park, the senior spokesperson, also said, "The 'Gyeongju Declaration' adopted this time is the first in APEC and the first time the leaders of the United States and China have reached an agreement on AI together," adding, "In the era of an AI great transformation, the Republic of Korea has charted a future of shared prosperity as a leader."
By contrast, Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a commentary that while there were "some intended outcomes such as cooperation on responses to voice phishing and online fraud crimes, and an extension of the South Korea-China currency swap," there was "no tangible achievement or progress on core pending issues in South Korea-China relations, such as lifting the ban on Korean cultural content, or removing artificial structures in the West Sea."
Park, the senior spokesperson, said, "For the 'national interest-centered pragmatic diplomacy' put forward by the Lee Jae-myung administration to become truly pragmatic, it must produce practical changes and diplomatic results that the public can feel, rather than empty rhetoric," adding, "One cannot call it 'restoring relations' when the talks remained silent on real-world issues such as the Korean content ban that has continued for eight years since the THAAD retaliation, China's illegal fishing, and the installation of artificial structures in the West Sea."
Earlier in the afternoon, President Lee held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to the presidential office, the two countries that day signed a 70 trillion won "won-yuan currency swap contract" and agreed to activate a high-level regular communication channel. President Lee and President Xi were also said to have discussed peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.