Amid controversy over Ambassador Xing Haiming's remark at a dinner with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, that "you will regret if you don't bet on China," it has been reported that five Democratic Party lawmakers are currently visiting China at the invitation of the Chinese side, raising the prospect of another controversy.
According to the Democratic Party on the 13th, lawmakers Kim Tae-nyeon, Hong Ik-pyo, Ko Yong-jin, Hong Ki-won, and Hong Sung-guk, members of the party's Livelihood Economic Crisis Countermeasures Committee, arrived in Beijing on the 12th and are scheduled to stay in China until the 16th.
The visit was arranged at the invitation of the Chinese government, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is known to have been planned several months before Ambassador Xing's controversial remarks.
However, as the diplomatic relationship between Korea and China is rapidly deteriorating due to Ambassador Xing's potentially offensive remarks, the visit by Democratic Party lawmakers to China cannot be ruled out as another potential source of controversy.
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