Korea-China Meeting

[Anchor Lead]

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se has been visiting Laos to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum. On the sidelines of that summit, he and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting on July 24 to discuss the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense system THAAD on the Korean Peninsula.

[Pkg]

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese counterpart have held a meeting. It was the first high-level talks to take place after Korea's decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, THAAD. Prior to the meeting, the Chinese foreign minister said that the deployment of the THAAD system was quite regrettable, and that he wanted to know what actions Seoul could take to protect the bilateral ties.

[Soundbite] Wang Yi(Chinese Foreign Minister) : "Korea's recent actions have undermined trust between Korea and China. It's very regrettable."

The Korean foreign minister responded by stressing that the bilateral relations
must not be affected by a certain issue.

[Soundbite] Yun Byung-se(S. Korean Foreign Minister) : "The closer the two nations, the more likely they are to face various challenges down the road. We can overcome such challenges because our relations have taken firm root so far."

Yun reiterated that the goal of the THAAD deployment was self-defense and that it does not target a third country. He emphasized that the only reason of its deployment was North Korea's nuclear missile threat. A Foreign Ministry source said that the Chinese foreign minister reaffirmed Beijing's stance on denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and conveyed Beijing's strong determination to implement the U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea sanctions.