[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korean and Chinese leaders will be able to have their first one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in July in Germany, and the second in August when the two countries mark the anniversary of diplomatic normalization, a presidential envoy said Wednesday.
Lee Hae-chan, a veteran ruling party politician, left for Beijing as a special envoy to deliver a message from President Moon Jae-in to Chinese President Xi Jinping and arrange their summit talks.
"I think South Korea and China will be able to hold their first summit talks in July during the G-20 summit in Hamburg," Lee told reporters. The Hamburg summit is set for July 7-8. In Beijing, he said he would float the idea of holding a second meeting in August when the two countries mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties on August 24.
The envoy said he is going to Beijing with a special order from Moon to end a diplomatic stalemate caused by the deployment of a US missile shield in South Korea.
Seoul and Beijing showed signs of a thaw in frozen ties after the liberal leader took office on May 10. Moon has expressed his willingness to use the missile shield as a "diplomatic card", insisting its deployment was decided unilaterally by his predecessor without parliamentary consent.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
