On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to play a “more active, constructive role” in curbing threats from North Korea amid recent escalations when the two leaders met on the sidelines amid the ongoing G20 Summit in Indonesia, said a statement released by his office.
This comes after North Korea fired a record number of missiles in a single day, reportedly fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea and made veiled nuclear threats, earlier this month, while South Korea and the United States were conducting a series of military drills which Pyongyang called an “open provocation and dangerous war drill”.
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“President Yoon said he hopes that China would play a more active, constructive role as its neighbour and a member of the UN Security Council.” The remark was made after he noted that North Korea has “recently escalated nuclear and missile threats by launching provocations with an unprecedented frequency.”
In response, Xi reportedly also spoke about China and South Korea’s common interest in the Korean Peninsula and that both nations must safeguard peace. The Chinese president also told Yoon that he hopes Seoul will try to improve its relations with Pyongyang and that he is willing to support South Korea’s bid for a denuclearisation offer if North Korea was to accept it.
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Meanwhile, Yoon’s office also said that the South Korean president proposed holding regular high-level talks and discussing issues like the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy and climate change.
The statement said that Xi had agreed on the need to boost bilateral dialogue and build political trust and said that he would visit South Korea after the Covid-19 situation in China stabilises. The in-person meeting on the sidelines of the G20 between the two leaders lasted nearly 25 minutes and was the first one since December 2019.
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On the other hand, a Chinese government statement did not mention their country’s president discussing North Korea particularly and said that Beijing is ready to work with South Korea on improving bilateral ties and ensure greater stability in the region and the world, reported the Associated Press.
(With inputs from agencies)
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