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South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun (second from right) and his Chinese counterpart, Sun Weidong (second from left), pose for a photo during their talks in Seoul on June 18, 2024. With them are Lee Seung-buhm (right), director general for international policy at the Defense Ministry, and Zhang Baoqun (left), deputy director of the Office of International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission. (Yonhap)

While Russian President Vladimir Putin set a course for Pyongyang on Tuesday for his first visit in 24 years, South Korea and China held a diplomatic and security dialogue in Seoul.

During this meeting, the South Korean representatives voiced profound concerns over Putin’s North Korea visit and called on China to play a constructive role.

On Tuesday afternoon, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong-kyun attended a bilateral diplomatic and security dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complex in Seoul with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong.

The dialogue took place in a “two-plus-two” framework with both sides’ foreign and defense ministries participating. Joining senior representative Kim on the South Korean side was Lee Seung-buhm, the Ministry of National Defense’s director general for international policy. On the Chinese side, Sun was joined by Zhang Baoqun, the deputy director of the Office for International Military Cooperation in China’s Central Military Commission.

Also attending were Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming; Chen Shaochun, the deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Asian affairs bureau; and Chen Peiling, the deputy director of the Asian affairs bureau of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation.

Over the course of the four-hour meeting on Tuesday and a dinner lasting around two hours, the two sides discussed a broad agenda that included matters of bilateral relations, Korean Peninsula issues, and the regional and international political situation.

During the meeting, the South Korean side expressed profound concerns about Putin’s North Korea visit happening at a time when North Korea has been ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula with provocations involving ballistic missiles, balloons laden with trash and other waste, and the disruption of global positioning system (GPS) signals.

It also warned that Putin’s visit should not be allowed to harm peace and stability on the peninsula and lead to the strengthening of illegal military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

The South Korean representatives further stressed that the tensions created on the peninsula by the stronger military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow were contrary to Beijing’s interests as well, urging China to play a constructive role toward peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization. Additionally, they reported on concerns voiced in South Korea and overseas over the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, calling for cooperation from the Chinese government in ensuring that such defectors can travel to their desired destination without being repatriated.

In response, the Chinese representatives said that there had been “no change in China’s policies regarding the Korean Peninsula” and pledged to “play a constructive role to resolve issues on the peninsula,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. The two sides also exchanged views on the political situations in Ukraine and the Middle East and China’s relationship with the US.

Before the meeting, Sun paid a courtesy visit to Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul, who emphasized the importance of South Korea and China sustaining momentum in their cooperation.

Cho also voiced concerns about Putin’s North Korea visit, with the Chinese side replying that it hoped interchange between North Korea and Russia would contribute to peace and stability in the region, the ministry said.

Analysts suggested that China’s participation in a diplomatic and security dialogue with China at such an “unusual” moment — coinciding with Putin’s visit to North Korea — was intended to distance it from the increased closeness between Pyongyang and Moscow. Beijing appeared concerned that the greater closeness may contribute to emphasizing trilateral alignment among North Korea, China and Russia, which could result in stronger trilateral military cooperation by South Korea, the US and Japan to oppose it.

As China transitions into managing its relations with South Korea, it has been making efforts in areas including economic cooperation. On Wednesday and Thursday, Xin Changxing, the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s committee for Jiangsu Province — the heart of China’s economy — is slated to visit Korea and meet with South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun, as well as meet with heads of local governments and businesspeople. This follows a visit to Korea by Hao Peng, the secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the CCP, in April. 

Some have speculated that, amid their close strategic cooperation in defiance of the US, China and Russia consulted on matters related to the Korean Peninsula ahead of time before staggering the timing of the Seoul-Beijing diplomatic and security dialogue and Putin’s trip to Pyongyang. 

Doo Jin-ho, the chief of the global strategy division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, assessed that Putin’s arrival in Pyongyang on Wednesday morning by route of Yakutsk was done with the intention of “avoiding the South Korea-China diplomatic and security dialogue when arriving in Pyongyang.” 

“China and Russia understand and respect one another’s strategies, in a sort of relationship of mutual assistance on policy matters,” he analyzed. That is, Beijing and Moscow may be strategically cooperating on their management of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, with Russia advancing ties with North Korea and China managing its relationship with South Korea, by consulting with one another ahead of time. 

It’s likely that the meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that took place in Moscow on the sidelines of the BRICS foreign ministers conference on June 10 may have been the venue for such consultations. 

By Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

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