South Korean President Moon Jae-in (2nd from R, first row) poses for a picture with leaders attending the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, on June 12, 2021. From left to right in front are South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Moon and US President Joe Biden. From left in the second row are Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. From left in the third row are United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Council President Charles Michel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
South Korea will continue efforts to "stably manage" relations with China while taking into account the outcome of a Group of Seven (G-7) summit earlier this month, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry made the statement in a report submitted to the National Assembly amid speculation that South Korea's participation in the G-7 summit as a guest makes the country look like it has chimed in with the G-7 countries on their unified front against an assertive China.
Seoul officials have dismissed that viewpoint, saying that the G-7 sessions South Korea took part in had nothing to do with China issues and stressing that both the United States and China are important to South Korea.
The ministry reiterated the point Tuesday.
"Under our position that we seek to harmoniously develop the strategic cooperative partnership with China based on the South Korea-US alliance, we intend to continue communication with Beijing," the ministry said in the report.
"Taking the content of the G-7 outcome into account, we plan to stably manage South Korea-China relations," it said.
The ministry will also continue communication and coordination with key countries so as to facilitate diplomatic reengagement with North Korea and to stably manage the situation on the Korean Peninsula, it added.
In the back-to-back talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Monday, US Special Representative Sung Kim said that the US has offered to meet with the North "anywhere, anytime without preconditions," and hopes the North will "respond positively." (Yonhap)