1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin had a meeting with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who visited Korea to attend the tenth Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Busan for around two hours from 10:40 a.m. to 12:40 p.m., Sunday, November 26. The two sides broadly exchanged views on issues of mutual interest including Korea-China relations, Korean Peninsula issues, and regional and global affairs.  

2. The two sides reaffirmed their basic shared commitment to develop the bilateral relationship into a healthy and mature one based on mutual respect, reciprocity and common interest. On that note, the two sides agreed to strengthen mutual understandings and trust based on the top-level exchanges and communication realized on the occasion of events such as the recent ASEAN Summit and Hangzhou Asian Games, and to make efforts to broaden the shared commitment to cooperation. To this end, the two sides agreed to strengthen strategic communications on various levels including the Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue, the Vice Foreign Ministerial Strategic Dialogue, and the Track 1.5 Dialogue. Foreign Minister Park expressed his wish for the two countries to actively cooperate to develop the bilateral relations and to contribute to the regional and global peace and prosperity guided by the rules-based international order. Foreign Minister Wang formally invited Foreign Minister Park to visit China, and said that he wants to have an opportunity to visit Seoul in the future.

3. Also, the two sides shared the understanding that economic cooperation has been an important driver for the development of Korea-China relations, and agreed to continue strengthening mutually beneficial substantive cooperation in line with changed internal and external environments. In this vein, Foreign Minister Park emphasized the importance of the stable management of supply chains, the protection of Korean companies in China, and the promotion of exchanges of cultural contents such as games and movies.

4. The two sides agreed to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries. The two sides especially shared their understanding on the importance of youth exchanges, which form a basis of friendly cooperation between the two countries, and agreed to actively promote such exchanges. Foreign Minister Park appreciated the recent resumption of Chinese group tours to Korea (August 10) and China‘s accession to the Apostille Convention, and looked forward to many Chinese people visiting Korea in the “Visit Korea Year 2023-2024.”

* China joined the Apostille Convention in March 2023 followed by its entry into force on November 7. 

5. Foreign Minister Park appreciated the reopening of historic sites such as the An Jung-geun exhibition room in Lushun Prison Museum and Yoon Dong-Ju’s birthplace after the Korea-China Foreign Ministers’ phone call on August 31, and requested China’s continued attention to and cooperation on preserving and maintaining Korean independence movement sites in China. Foreign Minister Wang stated that China will continue to preserve and maintain such historic sites in China.

6. The two sides shared the understanding on accelerating the restoration and normalization of the cooperation among Korea, Japan and China through the 10th Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which was held after about a four-year hiatus. On that note, the two sides agreed to closely cooperate to hold a Korea-Japan-China Summit at the earliest convenient time.

7. Foreign Minister Park requested that China, as Korea’s close neighbor, support Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.

8. Foreign Minister Park emphasized that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s launching of the so-called “military reconnaissance satellite," which ignored the international community’s warnings, is not only a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions but also a serious threat to Korea‘s security. Foreign Minister Park pointed out that, in response to Korea's decision to suspend one provision of the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA) ,which is a minimal defensive measure for the safety of the people, the DPRK claimed that it would never be bound by the CMA and threatened further provocations. He requested China’s constructive role in ensuring that the DPRK refrains from further provocations and nudging Pyongyang towards the path of denuclearization, which would serve the common interests of Seoul and Beijing. Furthermore, Foreign Minister Park reiterated Korea’s resolute position on the forcible repatriration of North Korean defectors in China.

9. The reciprocal visits by the two Foreign Ministers -- Foreign Minister Wang’s visit to Korea following Foreign Minister Park’s visit to Qingdao in August 2022 -- are expected to help further promote close communication between the two Foreign Ministers in the future.