1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi signed the ROK-China Consular Agreement on July 3, with President Park Geun-hye of the ROK and President Xi Jinping of China in attendance.

2. The ROK government has worked since 2002 to conclude the ROK-China Consular Agreement in order to protect Korean nationals amid soaring people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and increasing incidents and accidents involving Koreans in China. This led to the singing of the Agreement during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest visit to the ROK.

3. The major provisions of the ROK-China Consular Agreement are: notifying consular agencies of the other country within four days of the arrest or detention of a national of the other country regardless of whether the national requests it; permitting a national of the other country to have a consular meeting within four days after a request is made; and notifying the other country immediately of a death sentence upon a national of the other country, its execution or changes to the verdict.

4. The Consular Agreement with China is the third bilateral consular agreement that the ROK signs, following the agreements with the US and Russia in 1963 and 1992, respectively. Consular relations between countries are generally regulated by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. However, given the rising people-to-people exchanges between the ROK and China, the development of more detailed and strengthened regulations is expected to further improve the system for consular cooperation between the two countries.

o In particular, by expressly stipulating that a notification on the arrest or detention of a national of the other country must be made within four days and that permitting a national of the other country to have a consular meeting within four days after a request, the Agreement will further improve the safety of Koreans in China and the protection of their rights.

5. The ROK-China Consular Agreement will take effect 30 days after being notified of the completion of all necessary domestic procedures in both countries. 


                     Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation