[Yonhap News Photo ]
South Korean opposition legislators pushed ahead with a controversial visit to China Monday in defiance of warnings from the office of President Park Geun-hye that it would aggravate a row over a US missile shield.
Five members of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, led by Kim Young-ho who has a degree in international relations from Peking University, left for China. Another member was to leave later in the day.
The three-day trip aimed at listening to Beijing's complaints about Seoul's decision to bring in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system includes a series of meetings with Peking University professors, Chinese businessmen and party officials.
The US missile shield has strained relations between Seoul and Beijing. Beijing has warned the THAAD system would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia.
"I have a heavy heart," Kim told reporters before boarding a Beijing-bound plane, adding his trip is designed to ease a diplomatic standoff between Asia's first and fourth-largest economies.
"Through this trip, I hope that strained diplomatic relations between South Korea and China will get any better," Kim said, referring to a presidential statement urging the opposition legislators to cancel their trip. Presidential officials said the trip could be used by China to strengthen its position and deepen an internal dispute in South Korea.
China canceled a series of fan meetings planned by South Korean celebrities last week after a top media regulator warned of a setback in exports of South Korea's pop culture wave "Hallyu" to China.
Seoul has ruled out the possibility of China imposing any full-scale economic retaliation against South Korea or a dramatic setback in bilateral economic ties. But some experts have warned China could take serious steps if a THAAD battery arrives in South Korea.
Aju news Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
