Cho Tae-yeol's Visit to China After 6 Years... Will It Open the Way for Korea-China Relations Improvement?

Visiting Beijing on 13-14... Korea-China Foreign Ministers Meeting
Wrapping up Korea-China-Japan Summit and Discussing 'Relationship Improvement'
'Forced Repatriation' Setback... Government Finds Strong Protest Difficult

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will visit China for two days starting on the 13th. This marks the first time in six and a half years since November 2017 that a South Korean foreign minister has visited Beijing.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Minister Cho Tae-yul is scheduled to visit Beijing, China from the 13th to the 14th at the invitation of Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister. The Ministry stated that during this visit, Minister Cho will hold a Korea-China foreign ministers' meeting with Minister Wang Yi to exchange views on mutual interests such as Korea-China relations, the Korea-China-Japan summit, the Korean Peninsula, and regional and international issues.

Cho Tae-yeol, Minister of Foreign Affairs Photo by Yonhap News

Minister Cho is expected to finalize the schedule for the Korea-China-Japan summit, which is being coordinated for the 26th to 27th, and urge China to play a "constructive role" regarding North Korea. Additionally, the two foreign ministers are anticipated to discuss the direction of Korea-China relations, the resumption of high-level exchanges, supply chain restructuring, and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

It remains to be seen whether the recent issue of China forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors, following a similar incident in October last year, will become a variable. China reportedly repatriated about 500 North Korean defectors en masse in October last year and an additional approximately 200 at the end of last month. Given South Korea’s efforts since last year to hold the Korea-China-Japan summit, there is an analysis that China calculates it would be difficult to make a "high-level" protest that could act as a diplomatic setback. In fact, the government has not expressed any separate regret beyond its principled stance opposing forced repatriation.

Furthermore, Minister Cho Tae-yul plans to hold a meeting with South Korean businesspeople active in China during this visit to listen to their difficulties. They also plan to exchange views on ways to revitalize economic exchanges between Korea and China, including support measures. In addition, during his visit, Minister Cho will convene a meeting with Chinese regional consuls general to share the results of the foreign ministers’ talks. He is expected to urge strategic diplomatic activities to ensure that political, economic, cultural, and human exchanges at the local level can provide momentum for the development of Korea-China relations.