SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will visit China this week and meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday.
During his visit to Beijing around Wednesday, Cho is expected to discuss Chinese President Xi Jinping’s possible attendance at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea, the report said.
This would be Cho’s first trip to China since he became foreign minister in June.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Korea for the APEC summit from October 31 in Gyeongju. Trump told South Korean President Lee Jae Myung last month he wanted to meet Kim Jong Un, leader of Seoul’s arch rival North Korea, this year.
Lee invited Trump to the APEC meeting at the time and suggested he try to meet with Kim during his Asia trip, Lee’s office said.
China’s Xi this month stood side by side with Kim for a military parade and held a separate meeting with the North Korean leader, their first in six years.
Beijing’s official readout of the Xi-Kim talks did not refer to “denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula for the first time in years, in what some analysts said was a major concession to Kim.
South Korea has urged Beijing to play a constructive role in bringing Pyongyang to dialogue over its nuclear programme.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by William Mallard)
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