President Moon Jae-in met with Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Yang Jiechi at Cheong Wa Dae for 70 minutes from 3:30 this afternoon. He is also Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs. He is visiting Korea as Special Representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping. They discussed a variety of pending issues between the two countries. Importantly, President Moon was briefed in detail by the Special Representative on the result of the recent summit between President Xi and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Later on, they engaged in in-depth discussions on how the situation on the Korean Peninsula would unfold.

Special Representative Yang said that China was taking President Moon’s concerns very seriously, referring to such issues as the normalization of China’s organized tours to Korea, facilitation of the sale of Lotte Mart’s China business, resumption of the Shenyang Lotte World project and the exclusion of Korean companies from receiving Chinese government subsidies for electric car batteries. He went on to say that these issues would see tangible outcomes at the earliest possible date, expressing the hope that President Moon would put his trust on it.

At today`s meeting, President Moon underscored the seriousness of the fine dust problem in Korea. Noting that the problem was caused not only by domestic factors but also by Chinese factors, the President said voices were growing among the Korean people demanding close cooperation between the two countries.

In response, the Special Representative said that if the two countries worked together by setting up a joint environmental center, it would go a long way in addressing the issue of air pollution, including fine dust. He then expressed his agreement on the early launch of the center. To this end, the two sides agreed to a meeting of high-level officials concerned at an early date, including a meeting between the environment ministers to ensure their cooperation. The establishment of a joint environmental center was discussed during the Korea-China summit last year, but concrete consultations for its installation have not made any headway so far.

Special Representative Yang also said an instruction was made to a related local government to expedite the restoration of the headquarters of the Korean Liberation Army in Chongqing, China, which President Moon had mentioned in the past.

The Special Representative explained in detail to President Moon the results of the China-North Korea summit held on the occasion of the visit to China by Chairman Kim Jong Un. Based on that, President Moon and the Special Representative had in-depth discussions on ways for the upcoming inter-Korean talks and a summit between the United States and North Korea to bear fruit. The Special Representative also said China would actively cooperate for the denuclearization of and settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula.