Moon to hold summit with Xi next week amid stalled NK nuke talks
By YonhapPublished : Dec. 19, 2019 - 11:29
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, next week when he visits China for annual trilateral talks with Chinese and Japanese leaders, Moon's office said Thursday.
The Moon-Xi summit will take place on Dec. 23 in Beijing, where the two leaders will discuss ways to promote bilateral ties and the Korea peace process, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The meeting comes as North Korea has threatened to take a "new way" if the United States does not put forward concessions in their stalled nuclear talks by the end of this year.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are growing amid speculation that the North may conduct a long-range missile test in protest.
"The two leaders plan to discuss ways to develop the Korea-China relations and promote bilateral cooperation and hold in-depth exchanges of views about the situations on the Korean Peninsula," Cheong Wa Dae's deputy spokesman, Han Jung-woo, told a press briefing.
Moon will visit the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Dec. 23-24 to attend a trilateral summit with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Moon also plans to hold a one-on-one meeting with the Chinese premier on Monday to discuss practical ways to bolster cooperation between the two nations, Han said.
"Through the summit with Xi and the meeting with Li, Moon will strengthen strategic communication with China's leadership and exchange opinions about ways to develop the bilateral relations," he said. (Yonhap)