SEOUL, Foreign Minister Park Jin said Saturday he plans to visit China at an early date for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on bilateral and regional issues.
Park made the remark upon returning from a trip to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting, which marked his debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage since taking office in May.
On the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, Park and Wang on Thursday had their first in-person talks to discuss bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern, and they exchanged invitations to their respective countries, the minister said.
“I will visit China in the near future to continue S. Korea-China consultations,” Park told reporters after arriving at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul.
He did not elaborate on the schedule. Seoul and Beijing commemorate the 30th anniversary of establishing their diplomatic relations next month.
Since taking office in May, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has focused on strengthening the alliance with the United States and vowed support for its Indo-Pacific strategy, widely seen as Washington’s efforts to counter Beijing’s growing clout in the region.
The move was interpreted as a departure from the previous Moon Jae-in administration’s position of “strategic ambiguity” between its main ally U.S. and China, Seoul’s largest trading partner.
During Thursday’s talks, Park said the Yoon administration will prioritize diplomacy based on key values, such as freedom and human rights, and called for China’s constructive role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
Wang said China is willing to work with the Seoul government and expressed hope for developing “strategic cooperative partnership.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency