1. The 11th Korea-China Consular Affairs Consultation was held in Seoul on August 27 with Lee Key-cheol, 
Deputy Director-General of Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs Bureau, and Qiu Xuejun, Deputy Director-
General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Consular Department, as heads of their respective delegations.

2. As bilateral relations have developed dramatically and people-to-people exchanges have been growing 
rapidly for the last 17 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and China in 1992, 
the meeting was held to discuss key issues of mutual interest including more convenient departure and 
arrival procedures between the two countries and the protection of one’s own nationals staying in the other 
country.

3. Considering the fact that there has been an increase in accidents/incidents involving one’s own nationals 
staying in the other country as well as cases of infringement of rights and interests, as people-to-people 
exchanges and the number of companies doing business in each other’s country have grown, the two sides 
have agreed to further strengthen cooperation to respond more rapidly to accidents/incidents and protect 
legitimate rights and interests of one’s own nationals.

4. The two sides have also shared the view that the increase of exchanges between young people of both 
countries including school trips will contribute largely to promoting amicable and cooperative relations 
between China and Korea in the future, and have decided to cooperate in making departure and arrival 
procedures more convenient to foster exchanges between Korean and Chinese young people.

5. The two sides have agreed to continue to work closely for the speedy conclusion of the “Agreement 
Concerning the Mutual Abolition of Visas on Diplomatic Passports” in which the two countries have been 
pursuing to promote people-to-people exchanges and expand cooperation in the public sector.

6. In addition, both sides have recognized that the eradication of illegal residence requires close cooperation, 
and agreed to facilitate exchanges between relevant government authorities of the two countries.

7. The two sides have decided to hold next year’s meeting in Beijing and discuss details through diplomatic 
channels later. 


                                         Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFAT

* unofficial translation