Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong presides over a meeting on development cooperation at the foreign ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will visit China later this week for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss bilateral ties, the Korean Peninsula situation and regional and global issues, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Chung and Wang are set to hold their first in-person meeting in their current capacities in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen on Saturday, amid renewed regional tensions caused by North Korea's recent missile launches and an escalating Sino-US rivalry.
The talks, arranged at Wang's invitation, come after Chung met separately with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Seoul earlier this month to deepen bilateral ties and cooperation in advancing Seoul's agenda for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
"Chung's visit to China this time is meaningful in that we continue strategic communication with major countries around the Korean Peninsula," the ministry said in a press release.
"The talks will serve as an opportunity for the two countries to explore ways to develop bilateral relations and at the same time to have an in-depth exchange of views on peninsula, regional and international issues," it added.
The agenda for the talks is expected to include cooperation in preventing an escalation of tensions by the North's possible saber-rattling, future high-level exchanges and preparations for events to mark the 30th anniversary next year of the establishment of bilateral relations.
Issues related to a Sino-US rivalry could also surface, as Washington seeks to tighten a network of alliances with South Korea, Japan and others to shore up its regional leadership and oppose China's policies on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea.
After the talks, Chung and Wang are set to hold a luncheon meeting and issue separate press statements.
The two sides picked Xiamen in Fujian Province as the venue for the meeting due to their respective antivirus policies and scheduling matters, a Seoul official said.
A South Korean foreign minister last visited China in November 2017. The last foreign ministerial talks between the countries took place in Seoul in November.
Chung is set to return home on Saturday. (Yonhap)