South Korea and China were set to hold “two plus two” talks of their senior foreign and defense officials Tuesday, a gathering that coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imminent visit to North Korea.
The diplomatic security dialogue will be headed by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.
Also attending the talks are Lee Seung-beom, director general for international policy at the defense ministry, and Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Office of International Military Cooperation of China’s Central Military Commission.
Tuesday’s talks come as Seoul is seeking to manage the relationship with Beijing stably at a time when the expanding cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has given rise to concerns it could help North Korea advance its military capabilities.
The Kremlin and the North’s state media announced late Monday that Putin will pay a state visit to North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The talks also come as fresh inter-Korean tensions have flared up after the North flew hundreds of trash-carrying balloons 토토 across the border into the South. Seoul resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts toward the North in response.
The current security landscape and developments on and around the Korean Peninsula will likely be high on the agenda at Tuesday’s talks.
Seoul’s foreign ministry said earlier that the two countries will discuss issues of mutual interest, from bilateral relations and the Korean Peninsula to regional and global situations.
The two sides could also discuss issues like China’s strategic competition with the United States and the cross-strait relations.
Holding the two plus two talks was part of the agreement reached between the two countries when President Yoon Suk Yeol met one-on-one with Chinese Premier Li Qiang for talks on the margins of the trilateral summit with Japan late last month.
They agreed to elevate the dialogue format to the vice-ministerial level. The previous talks took place among the director generals in 2013 and 2015.