President-elect Yoon meets with U.S. and Chinese ambassadors

President-elect Yoon Seok-youl began his diplomatic work on Friday, meeting with Chinese and U.S. ambassadors to South Korea two days after his election.

Yoon met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming at the headquarters of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) in Seoul and received a congratulatory letter on Yoon’s election from Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese president expressed his heartfelt congratulations and extended his warm wishes to Yoon in the letter.

“This year is meaningful for the bilateral relations between South Korea and China since it marks the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between the two nations,” Xi said. “Not forgetting where we started, China will work to make both countries and people happy by strengthening friendly cooperation and stably promoting South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership.”

Yoon told Ambassador Xing that he had many opportunities to engage in judicial cooperation with China since he was in the prosecution, adding that he met Ambassador Xing. “The establishment of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China has been of great help to the people of both countries and has contributed to economic development of both countries,” Yoon said.

“South Korea is currently the third largest trading partner of China, but it could become the second largest trading partner two years later,” Ambassador Xing said. “South Korea is an inseparable neighbor of China.”

Yoon also met with Christopher Del Corso, Charge d'Affaires at U.S. Embassy in South Korea. “The U.S. is South Korea’s only ally. As the two nations pledged to defend each other’s security with blood, I will work to reestablish the bilateral relations accordingly,” the president-elect said. “I am very grateful for U.S. President Joe Biden’s phone call to congratulate me on the election win.”

Del Corso said the U.S. and South Korea formed a solid alliance on the battlefield of the Korean War, and have crafted one of the most steadfast, resilient and robust alliances in the world. He added that all personnel at the U.S. Embassy will work closely with the new administration to further expand the alliance between the two nations.


Kwan-Seok Jang jks@donga.com