1. Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu held a working meeting and luncheon with Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou of China at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 27. On these occasions, the two senior diplomats exchanged an extensive range of views on matters of mutual concern, mainly ways to faithfully implement key measures in follow-up to President Moon Jae-in’s visit to China.

2. Deputy Minister Yoon and Assistant Minister Kong attached significance to President Moon’s state visit to China as a successful opportunity for the Republic of Korea and China to restore their mutual trust even in difficult circumstances and to herald a new beginning of the bilateral relations. On that note, they agreed to have the Foreign Ministries of the two countries spearhead efforts to sincerely implement as soon as possible the measures agreed upon by the two countries’ Presidents.

° The two senior diplomats, bringing renewed attention to the agreement, reached by the two leaders at their summit talks, to set up a summit-level “communicative hotline” and to step up strategic communication at various levels, agreed to put in high gear various bilateral communicative mechanisms, starting with the deputy foreign ministerial meeting on December 27.

° The two ranking diplomats, following up on the bilateral summit-level agreement to resume and increase exchanges and cooperation in a wide range of fields, agreed to reactivate consultative channels between relevant government agencies of the two countries as soon as possible; and to move forward with bilateral FTA negotiations on services and investment and other related follow-up measures in the near future.

3. Deputy Minister Yoon, citing the press report on the recent move to limit people-to-people exchanges between the ROK and China, asked the Chinese government to take appropriate measures. Assistant Minister Kong, denying the truthfulness of the report, stressed that China stands unchanged in terms of its plan to implement, together with the ROK, the measures agreed upon by the Presidents of the two countries during President Moon’s visit to China.

4. Assistant Minister Kong expressed expectation that the ROK will continually and appropriately address sensitive issues. Deputy Minister Yoon, evoking remarks by President Moon at the ROK-China summit talks, stated that the ROK government will respect the announced outcome of the meeting held on October 31 to seek ways to improve the bilateral relations.

5. The two senior diplomats, following up on the in-depth discussion on the North Korean nuclear issue during President Moon’s visit to China, agreed to thoroughly implement the recently adopted Resolution 2397 and all the other relevant UN Security Council resolutions and to continue close coordination in other ways as well toward a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.

6. With regard to the unfortunate incident where Korean reporters had been injured during President Moon’s visit to China, Deputy Minister Yoon underscored the need for the Chinese government to investigate the case in a swift and thorough manner. In response, Assistant Minister Kong explained that the Chinese government, with a high priority on this incident, is currently conducting an investigation in accordance with law, and will share with the ROK government its results as soon as they are available.

7. Later in the day, Deputy Minister Yoon paid a courtesy call on Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, during which the two sides agreed to work closely together, including by thoroughly implementing measures agreed upon during President Moon’s state visit to China, in a bid to advance the bilateral ties.


* unofficial translation