South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung (R) and his spouse Kim Hea Kyung (L) board their aircraft to depart for China at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam on Jan. 4, 2026.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Pictures
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung started a state go to to China on Sunday, hoping to advertise peace on the Korean Peninsula hours after rival North Korea launched ballistic missiles.
The go to, Lee’s first to China since taking workplace in June, comes amid heightened international tensions after Pyongyang’s aggressive show, on the heels of the U.S. assault on Venezuela.
Lee is anticipated to satisfy Chinese language President Xi Jinping throughout the journey for his or her second assembly in simply two months, an unusually quick interval that, analysts say, alerts China’s eager curiosity in boosting financial collaboration and tourism as its relations with neighbouring Japan have sunk to the bottom level in years.
Beijing was incensed when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed in November that Tokyo may take navy motion if Beijing attacked Taiwan. China claims the democratically ruled island as its personal – an assertion rejected by Taiwan’s authorities.
Sunday’s missile launches by North Korea symbolize “a message to China to discourage nearer ties with South Korea and to counter China’s stance on denuclearisation”, stated Lim Eul-chul, a professor on the Institute for Far Jap Research in Seoul.
Lee arrived in Beijing with a delegation that features greater than 200 South Korean enterprise leaders to begin the four-day go to, Chinese language state information broadcaster CCTV reported.
These included Samsung Electronics 005930.KS Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won and Hyundai Motor Group Govt Chair Euisun Chung, in accordance with photographs revealed by South Korea’s Yonhap Information Company.
China and South Korea are anticipated to debate issues resembling provide chain funding, the digital financial system and cultural exchanges throughout Lee’s go to, CCTV stated.
