President Moon Jae-in, who is making a state visit to China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, held a summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this afternoon. The two Presidents reached an agreement on the following four principles to secure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

First, war on the Korean Peninsula can never be tolerated; 

Second, the principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be firmly maintained;

Third, all issues, including the denuclearization of North Korea, will be peacefully resolved through dialogue and negotiations; and

Fourth, improvement in inter-Korean relations will be ultimately helpful in resolving issues involving the Korean Peninsula.

The two heads of state agreed to continue close communication through telephone conversations by establishing a hotline between them and through exchanges of letters as well as mutual visits and bilateral meetings on the sidelines of multilateral summits.

They also agreed to expand bilateral cooperation, which has mainly focused on the economy, trade and social and cultural affairs as well as people-to-people exchanges, into such areas as politics, diplomacy, security and cooperation between the political parties of the two countries. To this end, they agreed to revitalize a variety of senior-level strategic dialogues in addition to the one between the two Presidents. 

Besides collaboration between Korea and China, President Moon highlighted the importance of cooperation among countries in the region for the sake of peace, stability and prosperity not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in Northeast Asia. He went on to propose more frequent trilateral consultations in various formats, including Korea-U.S.-China and Korea-China-Japan meetings.

Strongly urging North Korea to stop its provocations, the two heads of state also shared an understanding that the North’s nuclear and missile development posed grave threats to peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world. They decided to work together to induce North Korea to come to the negotiating table through sanctions and pressure, including the faithful implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

President Xi made the Chinese stance on the THAAD issue clear again, saying he hoped that Korea would continue to pay close attention to this issue and properly deal with it. He went on to note that even though it would take a long time to recover from frustration, bilateral relations were currently improving at a fast pace. He suggested both sides take extra special care and manage to prevent any recurrence of a similar problem. 

President Moon took note of the results of a bilateral consultation on October 31 regarding how to improve Korea-China ties. He underscored the importance of normalizing and advancing bilateral relations as soon as possible on the basis of mutual respect for any overriding concern of the other.

President Moon expressed his appreciation to his Chinese counterpart for the invitation and warm hospitality. He also said he hoped that his visit this time would become a new and meaningful step to make the two nations` future journey together more harmonious. 

In response, President Xi said he was grateful for President Moon`s expression of condolences to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, which marks its 80th anniversary this year. 

President Moon noted that the long history of the two nations pursuing mutual prosperity was a clear reminder of the fact that Beijing and Seoul are partners destined to work together for the sake of peace and prosperity not only on the Korean Peninsula but in Northeast Asia and beyond while joining forces to further promote shared prosperity. The President went on to say that the recent, temporary difficulties between the two nations served rather as an opportunity to put ourselves in each other`s position. 

Saying that relations between the two nations over the past 25 years have brought substantive benefits to the peoples of both nations and contributed to the promotion of peace and stability in the region, President Xi expressed the hope that Seoul and Beijing would be able to work together to develop bilateral ties in a sound and stable manner.  

President Moon emphasized that the democratic leadership skills and the values to be pursued to improve the quality of life of the people, which were presented by President Xi at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, were in line with his political philosophy of putting people before anything else and his goals in running state affairs. The President expressed his hope that the two nations would work together to create future growth engines and push for cooperative projects in areas where the outcome could be actually felt by both peoples on the basis of shared visions and growth strategies of both nations. 

In reply, President Xi proposed the two nations redouble efforts to push ahead with mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation for common progress.

The two Presidents agreed to resume cooperative projects that have remained suspended so far, including the creation of the Korea-China Industrial Cooperation Complex and the funds for investment cooperation. They also came to an agreement to encourage businesses of both nations to increase their investments in the other nation. In this connection, the two heads of state welcomed the announcement to begin follow-up negotiations on services and investment in the Korea-China FTA. 

The two Presidents also agreed to join forces to reduce fine dust as well as to promote collaboration in the environment and healthcare, including medical cooperation for the treatment of cancers, cooperation in education and science, cooperation in new and renewable energy and cooperation between local governments. In addition, they concurred on the need to push for forward-looking cooperative projects in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution involving Big Data, artificial intelligence, 5G, drones and electric vehicles.  

Underscoring the fact that Korea’s New Northern Policy and New Southern Policy and China’s One Belt, One Road initiative were in some ways linked to each other, the two leaders agreed to actively come up with detailed cooperative measures.  

They were on the same page concerning the significance of improving mutual understanding and raising the level of empathy between the peoples of the two countries and decided to continue to expand exchanges in culture, sports and the study of humanities as well as between young people. In particular, they concurred on the need to further increase and develop exchanges of young people of the two nations who will lead the two countries’ relationship in the years to come.  

President Moon appreciated the fact that the Chinese Government had provided assistance to preserve the sites in China related to Korea’s independence movement and asked for continued interest and support in that matter going forward. 

President Xi expressed his gratitude to the Korean Government for its continued cooperation on the repatriation of the remains of Chinese soldiers who took part in the Korean War. Reminiscing that he had supported the projects to preserve the sites related to Korea’s independence movement when he was the party secretary of Zhejiang Province, the Chinese President said he would continue to cooperate in that regard. 

The two heads of state also agreed to strengthen efforts to secure peace and stability in the international community as well as on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. 

President Xi expressed the hope that the two nations would upgrade cooperation on their responses to international terrorism. President Moon enthusiastically expressed agreement and said he would make all possible efforts on the matter. 

The two heads of state also shared a common understanding that the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would be a great opportunity to enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. They also agreed to closely cooperate to make sure that the PyeongChang Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics would be hosted successfully and become venues for peace and harmony among people around the world as well as on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. 

President Moon extended an invitation to President Xi to attend the PyeongChang Olympics. President Xi answered that he would earnestly consider it and that, if he could not attend the event, he would surely send a delegation of high-ranking officials. 

The two leaders also shared an understanding that North Korea’s participation in the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would contribute to improving inter-Korea relations and easing tension in Northeast Asia, and they agreed to work together to that end.