Korea expresses condolences over former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's death

Home > National > Social Affairs

Korea expresses condolences over former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's death

Published: 27 Oct. 2023, 16:36

SARAH KIM
[email protected]

Then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang waves as he leaves Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 2, 2015. Li died early Friday of a heart attack. He was 68. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The South Korean government expressed "deep condolences" over the death of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday.

"Our government highly values former Premier Li Keqiang's great contributions to the development of South Korea-China relations as a close friend of Korea," Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "We pray that he rests in peace and express deep condolences to his bereaved family."

Li died just after midnight on Friday, following a sudden heart attack Thursday in Shanghai, China's state media reported. He was 68 years old.

Li, a trained economist once seen as a contender to become the country's top leader, served as China's premier for a decade, from 2012 to 2022. He retired from all political positions in March.

The reform-minded Li, supportive of a more open market economy, has been seen as a protégé of former President Hu Jintao, who led the country's rapid growth from 2002 to 2012.

Li was once seen as poised to be become China's leader but was overtaken by President Xi Jinping. He did not fall into the group of Xi loyalists and is seen to have been sidelined by the Chinese president in recent years.

Li has often been described as a pro-Korean figure who has engaged in numerous diplomatic exchanges with Seoul over the years. He visited South Korea four times over the past two decades, contributing to the strengthening of bilateral economic and diplomatic ties.

His first visit was in 1994, then as a secretary of the Chinese Communist Youth League, two years after the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between South Korea and China in 1992.

Li returned to Korea 12 years later, then serving as a party secretary of Liaoning Province.

In 2011, Li, then vice premier of the State Council, visited South and North Korea back-to-back.

After he took office as premier in 2013, Li again visited Seoul in November 2015 and gave an address stressing the importance of economic cooperation between the two countries.

Li visited Samsung Electronics' semiconductor plant in Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province in 2019 as a part of his efforts to highlight the increased cooperation in high-tech industry areas between the two countries.

On Aug. 24, 2022, Li gave a virtual congratulatory speech at a business forum commemorating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China.

Then-Premier Li held brief talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol in November last year on the sidelines of Asean-related forums in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday it is "reviewing and preparing" sending a formal condolence message on Li's death.

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]