South Korean Foreign Minister to visit China this week, Yonhap reports

SEOUL – South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will visit China this week and meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Sept 14.

During his visit to Beijing around Sept 17, Mr Cho is expected to discuss Chinese President Xi Jinping’s possible attendance at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in South Korea, the report said.

This would be Mr Cho’s first trip to China since he became foreign minister in June.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Korea for the Apec summit from Oct 31 in Gyeongju. Mr Trump told South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in August that he wanted to meet Mr Kim Jong Un, leader of Seoul’s arch rival North Korea, in 2025.

Mr Lee invited Mr Trump to the Apec meeting at the time and suggested he try to meet Mr Kim during his Asia trip, Mr Lee’s office said.

Mr Xi in September stood side by side

with Mr Kim for a military parade

and held a separate meeting with the North Korean leader, their first in six years.

Beijing’s official readout of the Xi-Kim talks did not refer to “denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula for the first time in years, in what some analysts said was a major concession to Mr Kim.

South Korea has urged Beijing to play a constructive role in bringing Pyongyang to dialogue over its nuclear programme. REUTERS