South Korean President Moon Jae In called for a "new start" to bilateral ties during a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing yesterday.

Relations between the two countries have been hit by Seoul's deployment of an anti-missile system that Beijing says hurts its security interests. Mr Xi told Mr Moon that his visit would improve relations.

On the North Korean nuclear issue, both leaders said they would not tolerate war on the Korean peninsula, and stressed the need to resolve the issue through peaceful means.

The two agreed to set up a direct hotline for communication. They later oversaw the signing of several memorandums of understanding, including on starting negotiations to upgrade their bilateral free trade agreement.

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