1. During her visit to New York for the 2019 session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha had a bilateral meeting with State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi on the morning of September 25. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, including the ROK-China relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

2. Minister Kang and State Councilor Wang took note of having close communication between the ROK and China, including the three meetings between the Foreign Ministers over the past two months, and agreed to continue cooperation in order to upgrade the ROK-China relations to a higher level.

° The two sides agreed to continue active high-level exchanges through this year, and to accelerate cooperation in substantive areas, including economy and people-to-people exchanges, in a bid to advance the bilateral relations.

3. State Councilor Wang explained the outcome of his recent visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the two sides shared assessments of the recent developments on the Korean Peninsula. The two sides shared the understanding that it is crucial for United States-DPRK working-level negotiations to resume as soon as possible in order to achieve substantial progress toward denuclearization and the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. They agreed to continue cooperation to that end.

4. Minister Kang has maintained close communication with State Councilor Wang by holding a meeting on August 1 (on the occasion of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings), on August 20 (on the occasion of the ROK-Japan-China Foreign Ministers’ meeting) and on the sidelines of the 2019 session of the UN General Assembly. In particular, the recent meeting is seen to have served as an opportunity to continue strategic communication between the ROK and China at a critical juncture in terms of Korean Peninsula and regional issues.