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 Photos
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 in the course of the journey for his or her second assembly in simply two months, an unusually brief interval that, analysts say, indicators 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 steered in November that Tokyo may take army 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”, mentioned Lim Eul-chul, a professor on the Institute for Far Japanese Research in Seoul.
Lee arrived in Beijing with a delegation that features greater than 200 South Korean enterprise leaders to start out a four-day state go to to China, Chinese language state information broadcaster CCTV reported.
China and South Korea are anticipated to debate issues similar to provide chain funding, the digital financial system and cultural exchanges throughout Lee’s go to, CCTV mentioned.
