hankyoreh

Chung Eui-yong

The Hankyoreh has learned that Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong recently visited Beijing in complete secrecy. “Chung Eui-yong recently went to Beijing,” a senior official at the Blue House said on Aug. 16. While the exact timing or agenda of Chung’s visit to China has not been revealed, he was presumably there to discuss bilateral cooperation about the elevated tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s recent launch of an ICBM. There is also speculation that Chung asked for China’s understanding on the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system and discussed a range of issues, including a South Korea-China summit meeting.

In connection with this, Yonhap News reported on Aug. 16 that South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed to Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Berlin at the beginning of July that trilateral talks be held among South Korea, the US and China. Chung visited China to discuss this issue at the beginning of this month and made contact with high-ranking Chinese officials, Yonhap reported. “It is not appropriate to make specific comment about what the two leaders discussed, and the report claiming that the national security advisor visited Beijing at the beginning of this month is not true,” the Blue House said.

By Lee Jung-ae, staff reporter

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