▲ Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong (right) and Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister in charge of Chinese Foreign Affairs


The heads of foreign affairs from South Korea and China met again after a month and a half in Rome, Italy, where the G20 summit will be held.



On the afternoon of the 29th, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a bilateral foreign ministers meeting in Rome, Italy, which they visited for the purpose of conducting the G20 summit.



It is the first time in about a month and a half that the foreign ministers of the two countries have met since Director Wang visited Korea on the 15th of last month.



As we met on the occasion of the multilateral summit, this meeting was held in an abbreviated form for about 30 minutes.



The main agenda is to check the follow-up measures of last month's talks, bilateral relations between Korea and China, and issues on the Korean Peninsula.



In particular, attention is paid to what kind of discussions have taken place in relation to the declaration of an end to the Korean War, which the Korean government is focusing on as a plan to resume dialogue with North Korea.



While South Korea and the United States are closely discussing the issue of an end-of-war declaration, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 20th that they would play a 'deserved role', saying they were "a major party to the Korean Peninsula issue and a signatory to the armistice agreement."



At the meeting last month, the two sides agreed to cooperate in seeking humanitarian aid while considering the demand for COVID-19 quarantine, but there is a possibility that follow-up discussions took place.



In addition, it seems that the Korean side has again requested cooperation in order to facilitate the exchange of cultural contents such as games, movies, broadcasting, and K-pop in relation to China's so-called 'Korean-Korean spirit'.



It is also of interest to see if the Chinese side has mentioned the recent US offensive against China, especially the Taiwan issue, which has emerged as the nucleus of the US-China strategic conflict.



The US-China confrontation over the Taiwan issue is escalating as the US recently urged Taiwan to support its participation in the UN system and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledged the presence of US forces in Taiwan.



(Photo = Yonhap News)