Korean President Moon Jae-in’s official office has confirmed that normal relations are to be restored between South Korea and China following the summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Da Nang, Vietnam at the weekend.

 

Commenting formally on the progress, President Moon said: “I’m glad that we have agreed to normalise exchanges and cooperation in the near future in all areas between our two countries through negotiations between the foreign authorities in Seoul and Beijing.”

 

BOTH COUNTRIES AGREE TO NORMALISE RELATIONS

The two heads of state agreed to normalise bilateral relations at the summit that took place on the sidelines of last weekend’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

 

Moon added: “I strongly hope that both countries can work hard together in order to make up for the lost time between the two of us,” he added.

 

 

While President moon didn’t mention the ‘THAAD Word’ once, this as effectively what it was all about, although no fine details have yet been forthcoming on what has been agreed between the two leaders.

 

NOW IT WILL BE DOWN TO THE DETAIL…

A compromise will doubtless have been reached to end China’s concerns over the intrusive radar technology it has strongly objected to with the US-supplied THAAD missile defence system.

 

Whether this will see changes made to the so-called ‘deterrent’, or it will be removed altogether remains to be seen.

 

 

That this paves the way for Chinese tourists to return to South Korea after more than six months’ absence and huge losses in revenue is certain, although it will be interesting to see how quickly this can occur.

 

Prior to President Moon’s comments, Chinese President Xi Jinping prefaced their meeting with the following statement: “Both China and Korea share common interests at an extensive level in terms of the business and social development of our two countries, in the advancement of our bilateral relationship and in the development of world peace.

 

 

“Now is the crucial time in the Beijing-Seoul relationship and concerning Korean Peninsula issues.

 

“I believe today’s meeting can offer an important opportunity for us in the development of the bilateral relationship, bilateral cooperation in regard to the Korean Peninsula issues and in exercising leadership in the future,” he said.