1. On June 17, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met with Spokesperson Qin Gang of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the group of Chinese journalists that are visiting the Republic of Korea on June 17-22 at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Korea. In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the significance of the upcoming visit of President Park Geun-hye to China, the ROK-China relations, the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, and exchanges between journalists of the two countries.

2. Minister Yun voiced his hope that the visit of the Chinese journalists to the ROK ahead of the state visit of President Park to China would serve as a good opportunity for them to witness the progress in the ROK-China relations made over the past 20 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties. Mentioning that at the very basic foundation of the bilateral relations lies mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries, the Minister stressed the highly important role of journalists of the two countries in promoting such sentiments and relations.

° Minister Yun noted with hope that the two countries, which underwent a ten-year honeymoon period on the heels of the establishment of diplomatic relations followed by a ten-year settlement period, are about to enter another ten-year-long period of takeoff. He requested that, in view of the upcoming presidential visit to China as the beginning of the takeoff era, the Chinese government and media circles take interest and render support so as to make a success of the visit.

3. Spokesperson Qin commented that President Park’s trustpolitik is in many aspects similar to China’s foreign policy principle that calls for strengthening mutual trust and cooperation among countries. He added that it also goes in line with the philosophy of the new leaderships of the two countries that puts the priority on happiness and dreams of their peoples. He noted that China will step up cooperation and exchanges with various walks of life of the ROK in order to make substantive progress in the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

4. The ROK-China Foreign Ministries have conducted exchanges of visits between journalists of the two countries since 1995. During their visit to the ROK, the Chinese journalists will meet with their Korean counterparts and visit the Center for Chinese Studies of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy.

                             Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation