President Moon Jae-in's state visit to China.
Hopes of overcoming the twist and turns in bilateral ties were pinned on that event.
Now that he's back, anticipation builds over how things could be different from here on.
Park Hee-jun zooms in on the main agendas discussed during the summit and what was achieved.
President Moon Jae-in returned home on Saturday after finalizing a 4-day state visit to China,
which was highlighted by a bilateral summit meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Their summit meeting on December 13 marked their first official one-on-one talks following
two brief encounters on the sidelines of major international events in Germany and Vietnam
back in July and November respectively.
President Moon's main goal for his first state-visit to China was to cement mutual trust and mend
ties between the two nations.
Under this goal, the South Korean leader focused on the three main topics: North Korea, the
THAAD deployment, and economic ties.
The two leaders agreed on four principles in dealing with North Korea;
no war on the Korean peninsula, pursuing denuclearization of the regime, a peaceful resolution through
dialogue and negotiations, and improved inter-Korean relations.
(Korean) “The four principles are highly theoretical
without any specific proactive solutions.
However, enhancing communication channels for the two leaders, such as the hotline,
signifies a step forward in addressing the issue."
Also, while there is great significance in that the two sides had a mutual understanding
on North Korea's nuclear provocations, experts say China's remarks against military options
may have aimed to keep the United States in check.
(Korean) "The fourth principle, being against war,...
dilutes the United States’ decision to prepare for military action.
This agreement with China could hurt bilateral relations with the U.S., so South Korea should
hold separate talks with the country to maintain trust."
On the THAAD issue, despite their differing stances on the deployment of the missile defense
system, both leaders agreed to carry out the October 31st joint statement, in which both
nations agreed to work to put their relationship back on a normal track “as soon as possible".
(Korean) "Only U.S.-China talks can completely resolve
the THAAD conflict.
But the fact that the word "THAAD" was not directly mentioned, shows that the Chinese
government's anger has evidently calmed down."
Stemming from the THAAD feud, South Korean businesses suffered year-long losses due to
China's economic retaliation.
But key accomplishments were made in putting the two countries' economic ties back on track.
Dozens of MOUs in a variety of fields, including trade and energy, were inked,...
and the two nations promised to speed up negotiations for the expansion of their bilateral free
trade agreement in the service and investment sectors,... with the first round of talks
likely to take place in January or February of next year.
(Korean) "The Chinese service market was very much
closed until now, but China has announced that it will gradually open it, which is a
big opportunity.
Because Korea is strong in services like finance, insurance, logistics, and air transport,...
hopes are high for the FTA negotiations that are due to take place at the start of next
year."
However, President Moon's first state visit to China was also marred by an assault incident
to two South Korean photojournalists by Chinese security guards near the beginning of the
summit.
And adding to that was the assault of two photojournalists from the press pool by Chinese
security guards near the beginning of the summit.
Those reporters were only trying to get some closer footage of President Moon,... but for
that they were dragged out of the hall and attacked by the guards, leaving them badly
injured.
Both sides are conducting their own investigation into the case.
Yet, with both countries having expressed great interest in re-normalizing diplomatic
ties, it appears that the assault did not do much to belittle the two nations' efforts.
And in addition to the two countries' efforts to build trust and enahnce their bilateral
relations, the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics next February-- endorsed by China
to further peace efforts,... may also be an opportunity for the Seoul-Beijing relationship,
already in its 25th year, to grow even stronger.
Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.