Lee Jae-myung asks Xi Jinping to help with denuclearization in first phone call

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Lee Jae-myung asks Xi Jinping to help with denuclearization in first phone call

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 18:45 Updated: 10 Jun. 2025, 19:07

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks over the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on June 10. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

In their first official phone call on Tuesday, Korean President Lee Jae-myung urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to play a “constructive role” in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean president also extended an invitation to the Chinese leader to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for November in the historic city of Gyeongju.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters that Lee expressed hope that the summit would serve as an opportunity for “closer exchanges of views to advance bilateral relations” between Seoul and Beijing.

Kang said the morning conversation between the two leaders lasted approximately 30 minutes and covered a range of issues, from economic cooperation to regional security.

During the call, Xi congratulated Lee on his recent election victory and expressed his desire to “work together with the new Korean government to develop the strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations.”

Lee responded by emphasizing the importance of mutual benefit and equality in the bilateral relationship. “I hope Korea and China will actively pursue exchanges and cooperation in various areas, including the economy, security, culture and people-to-people ties,” he said, according to Kang.

Both leaders acknowledged the need to deliver tangible outcomes that would directly benefit their citizens — particularly in economic sectors where both sides can “feel the results,” Kang said.

However, a presidential official said the pair did not discuss China’s unofficial ban on organized group tours of its citizens to Korea.

The restriction was imposed on Chinese tour companies by Beijing in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) anti-missile system on its territory in 2017.

Tensions between Seoul and Beijing have risen again since China constructed steel structures inside the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the Yellow Sea — where the two countries’ 230-mile-wide exclusive economic zones overlap — for what it claims are “aquaculture purposes” earlier this year.

Beijing has further deployed 13 buoys in the PMZ, claiming they are for maritime and meteorological observation.

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the CNS Fujian, also conducted a drill involving carrier-based aircraft inside the PMZ from May 22 to 28, when Beijing unilaterally declared three no-sail zones in the area.

Korean analysts have raised concerns that these actions are part of China’s so-called grey zone tactics to gradually gain control over the PMZ and to track Korean naval activities.

In the South China Sea, where Chinese territorial claims overlap with several other countries, Beijing has transformed previously uninhabited islands and submerged atolls into military bases.

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he leaves Red Square after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2025. [AFP/YONHAP]

During his call with Xi, Lee called on China to “play a constructive role in promoting peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.”

Xi responded that stability on the peninsula is in the “shared interest” of both countries and reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to contributing to peace in the region.

The tone of the conversation was described by Kang as friendly and informal, with both leaders noting their shared background in local politics.

The presidential spokesperson also said both leaders agreed to maintain close communication “across all sectors” in pursuit of a “new chapter” in Korea-China relations.

Later in the day, President Lee posted about the call on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“President Xi conveyed his hopes that our two countries would continue to steadily develop bilateral relations,” Lee wrote. “Today’s call reaffirmed that spirit.”

Calling China “an important partner in all areas, including the economy and security,” Lee expressed hope that Korea and China, as this year’s and next year’s respective APEC host nations, would use the forum to strengthen ties and deliver meaningful benefits to both peoples.

Should Xi accept Lee’s invitation, the APEC gathering in Gyeongju could not only also serve as the occasion for the pair’s first meeting, but also the Chinese president’s first trip to Korea since July 2014, when he met with then-President Park Geun-hye in Seoul.

Later in the afternoon, Lee held a meeting to review ongoing preparations for the APEC summit.

In its report on Tuesday’s phone call, Chinese state news agency Xinhua noted that Xi told Lee the two countries “should respect each other’s core interests and major concerns and keep bilateral relations on the right track” to “ensure sound and steady growth.”

Lee’s call with Xi came after he had spoken on the phone to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday — a sequence that surprised some observers given Lee’s previous calls for better relations with China and past criticism of Japan.

Yoon Young-kwan, chairman of the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said, “I’m not sure how much significance we should assign to the order, but Lee has made it clear that he wants to maintain cooperative ties with Japan and continue trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.”

He also said the Korean president should strive to “create an opportunity” for Trump and Xi at the APEC summit in Gyeongju if both leaders attend “given the many pending issues between the two powers.”

“Such a meeting,” he noted, “would also help foster an atmosphere conducive to stable management of Korea-China relations and serve as a litmus test for how Lee plans to steer ties for the next years.”

BY MICHAEL LEE AND SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]