Seoul: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help reopen dialogue with North Korea, Reuters reported. Lee met Xi in the city of Gyeongju recently, during Xi’s first visit to South Korea in 11 years. The two leaders held a summit and state dinner after an Asia-Pacific leaders’ forum.
Lee said he wanted China’s support in resuming talks with the North, which has continued to expand its nuclear weapons programme and rejected Seoul’s proposals for engagement.
“I am very positive about the situation in which conditions for engagement with North Korea are being formed,” Lee said, referring to recent contacts between Beijing and Pyongyang.
“I also hope that South Korea and China will take advantage of these favourable conditions to strengthen strategic communication to resume dialogue with North Korea,” he added.
North Korea, which counts China as its main ally, dismissed Lee’s push for denuclearisation as a “pipe dream”. It said it would never talk to the South and has formally abandoned its goal of peaceful unification.
