BERLIN -- President Moon Jae-in and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on the need for dialogue, along with sanctions and pressure, and South Korea taking a leading role in resolving North Korea’s escalating military threats in their first bilateral summit held in the German capital on Thursday.

Moon and Xi met amid escalating military tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the communist state said it successfully tested a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile, putting the US within its attack range. US President Donald Trump, visiting Poland before joining Moon, Xi and other leaders in a Group of 20 summit later this week, said he was considering “some pretty severe things,” while his envoy to the United Nations said the US will use “considerable military forces ... if we must.”

“President Xi expressed his support on President Moon’s efforts to bring lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula through the resumption of inter-Korean talks and the easing of military tensions,” Park Soo-hyun, Moon’s spokesperson, said after the meeting, which lasted 75 minutes, longer than the scheduled. 

 

Bilateral relations have been tested on multiple fronts after South Korea decided to deploy a US anti-missile system and China reacted to it by launching economic retaliations against South Korean companies. China is South Korea’s No. 1 trade partner.

While the South Korea-US alliance views the installment as a necessary countermeasure to North Korean provocations, China considers it a preliminary step for the US’ ambitions to expand its military leverage in the region.

The summit was held in an amicable tone and manner, but Moon did ask for the Chinese leader’s support in removing “restraints” hindering the two countries’ exchanges, in what appears to be an indirect reference to China’s retaliatory measures.

“The president said that it is true that due to various restraints, the two countries’ economic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges have been shriveling,” the spokesperson said, adding he requested Xi’s interest in and support for the issue, saying if the situation continues it would have an impact on the relationship between the two peoples.

On North Korea, the two leaders reaffirmed that the North’s ICBM test is “unacceptable” and the two countries will cooperate closely to bring about a fundamental solution to the matter.

Moon also expressed the hope that China would play a bigger role in dealing with the North.

The two leaders also agreed to intensify discussions after Moon visits China in the near future in line with Xi’s offer. Moon, for his part, asked Xi to come to South Korea on the occasion of the PyeongChang Winter Games next year.

At the beginning of the talk, the South Korean leader also expressed gratitude to Shanghai Salvage, China’s state-run company that led the salvaging consortium for the sunken Sewol ferry earlier this year.

“Their hard work has largely been underappreciated,” Moon said, to which a number of Chinese officials nodded intensely in approval. “I am aware that Shanghai Salvage made extreme efforts to (recover the ferry) amid challenging situations.”

Attending the occasion were Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs Kim Dong-yeon, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong, along with other senior presidential aides in the diplomatic and economic sectors.

Representing the Chinese government were Foreign Minister Wang Yi, State Councilor Yang Jiechi and other senior officials from the foreign affairs sector.

The dispute over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system seemed to ease to a certain extent following the inauguration of liberal President Moon in May, who had previously been relatively reserved on a full-scale deployment.

But North Korea’s renewed vow to carry out provocations -- represented by its launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday -- rekindled conflicts in the international community.

In his bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the Chinese leader reiterated his opposition to THAAD, saying its deployment brings serious harm to the strategic security interests of the peninsula’s neighbors.

“North Korea’s missile test will escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which will be reflected in the US and South Korean determination to deploy the THAAD system,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a briefing, following the launch Tuesday.

In fact, Moon, who had been inclined toward peaceful talks with Pyongyang, is now gesturing at stiffening against the communist regime.

South Korea and the US jointly staged a ballistic missile exercise Wednesday upon Moon’s suggestion, sending a warning sign to North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un.

“There is the need to display our solid alliance in missile defense to North Korea once and for all,” Moon said, before leaving for Germany.



By Bae Hyun-jung

Korea Herald correspondent

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)