Chinese President Xi Jinping will "soon" visit Seoul for a summit meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Thursday, voicing hope that the upcoming visit by Xi will help strengthen bilateral relations.

Yun made the remarks in his congratulatory speech for a public diplomacy forum in Beijing between South Korea and China. The speech was read by South Korean Ambassador to China Kwon Young-se.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping will soon visit South Korea," Yun told the audience during the one-day forum. "We hope that it will serve as a chance to take our bilateral relations one notch higher."

Multiple diplomatic sources in Beijing have said Xi is expected to make a state visit to South Korea in the first week of July.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Yun in Seoul on May 26 during which they fine-tuned the timing of Xi's visit to Seoul and set the agenda for a summit meeting between Park and Xi.

Entitled "South Korea-China Cooperation in Public Diplomacy: Building a Better Dream," the forum brought together around 200 government officials, industry representatives and journalists from the two nations.

In remarks read by China's Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao, Wang urged South Korea to make joint efforts to improve the friendly exchanges, and people-to-people and cultural cooperation between China and South Korea so as to drive the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership for sustainable and healthy development. (Yonhap)