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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol delivers remarks Thursday after an appointment ceremony for members of the special committee on balanced regional development at his transition committee’s offices in Seoul’s Tongui neighborhood. (pool photo)

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol plans to have his first telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping within the week.

“The other day, I mentioned that there was no precedent of President Xi Jinping speaking by telephone with a national leader who had [only] elected status,” Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said on Thursday.

“It looks like he’s going to break with that practice,” she added.

Kim went on to say that there had been “coordination with President Xi on a telephone conversation,” adding that the conversation would “take place within the week.” Sources indicated the conversation would most likely take place on Friday afternoon.

This would be Xi’s first telephone conversation with a South Korean president-elect.

“In terms of diplomatic practice, I cannot share very much information before the conversation takes place,” Kim said.

But she did say, “At a time when North Korea has conducted roughly a dozen missile launches this year and is raising military tensions by abandoning its moratorium on nuclear testing and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launches, we believe that the need to speak [with Xi] has arisen in terms of close coordination with China on issues related to the Asia-Pacific region and Korean Peninsula and the new South Korea-China relationship that the president-elect plans to establish.”

According to Kim’s explanation, the decision to have the conversation earlier than usual was prompted by the recent urgent developments on the Korean Peninsula and in South Korea-China relations.

Analysts read the unusual decision by Yoon’s camp to announce the scheduled conversation with Xi and stress its significance as being part of an effort to allay concerns that relations with Beijing could sour after Yoon takes office, given his past emphasis on strengthening the South Korea-US alliance.

During his election campaign, Yoon pledged to deploy more batteries as part of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system and push for South Korea’s gradual entry into the Quad, a strategic security dialogue among the US, Japan, Australia and India that is aimed at more closely containing China.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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