Summit in China

[Anchor Lead]

South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday afternoon. The summit was expected to discuss ways to normalize bilateral relations. Attention turns to whether South Korea's U.S. anti-missile battery deployment will be brought up again during the meeting.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in will hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during his state visit to China. The two are meeting on the second day of Moon's visit as the Chinese leader had to attend a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre on Wednesday. In the third South Korea-China summit, two issues are key concerns. The first isto restore the bilateral economic cooperation that was suspended by China's retaliation over Seoul's deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. The second is inducing Beijing to take part in sanctions imposed on North Korea. A joint statement and news conference following the summit will not take place amid lingering differences over the THAAD issue. It's to be seen whether President Xi will again raise the THAAD concern and pressure the Seoul government. Unlike in the past when a vice ministerial official greeted former Korean Presidents Roh Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye when they were visiting China, this time, an assistant ministerial level official greeted President Moon at the airport. Some say this apparent lower rank in protocol may signal China's pressure over the THAAD deployment. Seoul's presidential office said it will focus on restoring bilateral trust and economic exchanges. During the Thursday summit, the two sides are expected to declare the launch of follow-up negotiations related to service and investment fields of their free trade agreement.

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in : "I expect to see more companies advance into the other country's services sector and a boost in mutual investment."

In addition to economic exchange, Korea seeks to sign MOUs in various areas of environment, energy and health and medicine in efforts to aggressively advance into the Chinese market following the THAAD conflict.