China and South Korea leaders meet to boost trade amid North Korea tensions

BEIJING — China and South Korea's leaders pledged to boost trade and safeguard regional stability on Monday during a visit to Beijing by the South Korean president that was overshadowed by North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his four-day trip to China — his first since taking office in June.

As Xi hosted Lee at the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese president stressed the two countries’ “important responsibilities in maintaining regional peace and promoting global development,” according to a readout of their meeting broadcast by state-run CCTV.

Lee spoke about opening “a new chapter in the development of Korea-China relations” during “changing times.”

“The two countries should make joint contributions to promote peace, which is the foundation for prosperity and growth,” Lee said.

The visit comes as China wants to shore up regional support as tensions rise with Japan. Ties between Beijing and Seoul have fluctuated in recent years over previous conservative South Korean governments' steps to prioritize the U.S. and Japan over China, and allow the U.S. to install a missile defense system on its soil. Lee, a liberal, has promised to improve ties with Beijing, while also strengthening relations with Washington and Tokyo.

North Korea missile launch

Just hours before Lee’s arrival in China, North Korea launched several ballistic missiles into the sea, including, it said, hypersonic missiles, which are designed to travel at more than five times the speed of sound and are very difficult to detect and intercept. Foreign experts doubt that North Korea has developed such a functioning hypersonic weapon.

During the summit, the two countries agreed to continue to explore creative ways to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and confirmed the Chinese resolve to play “a constructive role” in efforts to promote peace, South Korea’s national security adviser Wi Sung-lac told a briefing.

China is a major ally of North Korea and provides it with an economic lifeline. In past years, China, together with Russia, has repeatedly blocked the U.S. and others' bids to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

The missile tests came as Pyongyang criticized a U.S. attack on Venezuela that included the removal of President Nicolás Maduro.

North Korea, which has long feared the U.S. might seek a change of government in Pyongyang, criticized the attack as a wild violation of Venezuela's sovereignty and an example of the “rogue and brutal nature of the U.S.”

China had also condemned the U.S. attack, which it said violated international law and threatened peace in Latin America.

China-Japan frictions

Lee's visit also coincided, more broadly, with rising tensions between China and Japan over recent comments by Japan's new leader that Tokyo could intervene in a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, the island democracy China claims as its own.

Last week, China staged large-scale military drills around the island for two days to warn against separatist and "external interference" forces.

In his meeting with Lee, Xi mentioned China's and South Korea’s historical rivalry against Japan, calling on the two countries to “join hands to defend the fruits of victory in World War II and safeguard peace and stability in northeast Asia.”

Regarding South Korea's military cooperation with the U.S., Lee said during an interview with CCTV ahead of his trip that it shouldn't mean that South Korea-China relations should move toward confrontation.

He added that his visit to China aimed to “minimize or eliminate past misunderstandings or contradictions (and) elevate and develop South Korea-China relations to a new stage.”

Bilateral ties

China and South Korea maintain robust trade ties, with bilateral trade reaching about $273 billion in 2024.

During their meeting, Xi and Lee oversaw the signing of 15 cooperation agreements in areas such as technology, trade, transportation and environmental protection, CCTV reported.

Earlier on Monday, Lee had attended a business forum in Beijing with representatives of major South Korean and Chinese companies, including Samsung, Hyundai, LG and Alibaba Group.

At that meeting, Lee and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng oversaw the signing of agreements in areas such as consumer goods, agriculture, biotechnology and entertainment.

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Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.