China South Korea Photo:VCG

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the presidential office in Seoul, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

During the meeting, He Lifeng noted that the heads of state of China and South Korea have conducted reciprocal visits since the end of last year, leading the bilateral relations into a new stage of improvement and development, per Xinhua.

China is willing to work with South Korea to well implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders, strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, deepen exchanges and cooperation, and effectively safeguard and develop the strategic cooperative partnership, He said.

For his part, Lee said that exchanges and cooperation between South Korea and China in various fields, including economy and people-to-people exchanges, have remained active recently, per the Xinhua report.

Lee expressed the hope that the two sides will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation, enhance the amity between the two peoples, enable the development of the relations to better benefit the two peoples and play an important role in regional peace and stability.

During the visit, He Lifeng also met with South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol on Tuesday. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation, according to Xinhua.

According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Lee expressed at the meeting that both sides should continue maintaining close communication in areas including the economy, industry, trade and culture in order to achieve concrete and substantive outcomes.

China and South Korea's relations are now in a stage of recovery, Lü Chao, a professor at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. The previous meeting between the two heads of state further promoted friendly ties between the two countries, and China is now placing greater emphasis on how to sustain the development of the relationship.

From April 6 to 10, the 14th round of negotiations on the second phase of the China-Korea Free Trade Agreement was held in Seoul. The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on issues including cross-border trade in services, investment, financial services and matters related to the negative list, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

In January, South Korean business representatives who accompanied the president on a visit to China interviewed by the Global Times said the unusually large size of the South Korean delegation sent a clear signal that "South Korean companies regard China as a core strategic market and hope to jointly explore new growth opportunities through deeper cooperation with China."

According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade reached $298.9 billion from January to November in 2025. As of the end of November last year, South Korea's cumulative actual investment in China totaled $104.65 billion. The role of economic and trade cooperation as a "ballast stone" and "propeller" in bilateral relations has become increasingly prominent, said the MOFCOM spokesperson in January.

According to Lü, economic and trade cooperation in semiconductors, industrial and supply chain resilience, energy and environmental protection are likely to advance. Meanwhile, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries are gradually improving and remain promising.