South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday he sees his final year in office as the last chance to achieve a lasting peace with North Korea, and said it was time to take action amid stalled talks over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. Photo: VCG

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said South Korea hopes China will continue to play a constructive role in Korean Peninsula issue when he met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday.

Moon said South Korea attaches great importance to its relationship with China. Despite the pandemic challenge, South Korea and China have maintained close high-level communication, and their economic and trade cooperation has grown, setting a good example for international cooperation against the epidemic.

Moon said South Korea hopes China will continue to play a constructive role in maintaining peace and contributing to the realization of the denuclearization of the Peninsula.

Moon stressed that bilateral relations have made important progress in the past 30 years and have even greater potential in the future. South Korea hopes to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to map out the direction of bilateral relations for the next 30 years and open a more mature relationship between two countries.

South Korea hopes to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with China, give full play to the role of the committee for future development of China-South Korea relations, expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and push for more fruitful cooperation in the economic sector, trade and environmental protection. It also supports China in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics.

For his part, Wang said that China and South Korea are inseparable neighbors, as well as mutually beneficial and win-win partners.

Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, the China-South Korea relations have maintained a sound momentum of development, and the friendship has been further deepened through joint efforts to fight the pandemic, Wang said.

Wang said that China firmly supports the efforts of two Koreas to overcome difficulties, remove interference and improve relations. 

Global Times