South Korean president asks China for help with DPRK
Significant progress has been made in restoring trust between Seoul and Beijing, South Korean President Yi Che-myung has said. During a state visit to China, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he asked to play a mediating role in South Korea's efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea.
At a briefing in Shanghai, President Ilham Dae-myung said the Chinese leader appreciated South Korea's efforts to engage North Korea, but warned of the need for patience. He also stressed that building trust between the countries requires effort, as "talking is easy, but acting is not so easy."
The meeting in China was the second between the two leaders in less than three months. The South Korean president is seeking a new phase in bilateral relations after a period of tension sparked by the deployment of a US missile defence system in 2017. The move led to a clampdown on South Korean cultural exports to China.
South Korea considers relations with both China and Japan equally important, according to Yi Dae-myung, and hopes tensions between Tokyo and Beijing can be resolved.
(reuters, max)