Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in in Beijing later Thursday for talks on North Korea and trade, as tensions between the two major Asian economies begin to thaw after a spat over Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. missile shield. North Korea’s missile and nuclear program will likely dominate Moon’s first state visit to China since coming to office in May. Moon is seeking engagement with the isolated nation, but has backed pressure to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table. Beijing has made a “suspension-for-suspension” proposal that involves North Korea suspending weapons tests while the U.S. halts military drills with South Korea.
Tensions rose between the nations last year after then President Park Geun-hye decided to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, missile shield on South Korean soil. That move led Beijing to retaliate economically, suspending sales of package tours and hindering the operations of South Korean companies.Read about why Thaad bothers China so much While Moon initially called for a review of the deployment, his government backed the system as Kim Jong Un’s regime accelerated efforts to obtain the capability to hit the continental U.S. with a nuclear weapon. In October, the nations agreed to put the dispute behind them. The two sides “reached some consensus on dealing with the issue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday in response to a question about Moon’s visit. “We hope that the issue can continue to be handled properly.” The UN envoy to North Korea, Jeffrey Feltman, recently returned from that country deeply worried about the prospects for bringing an end to its nuclear weapons program, reporting that the North Koreans don’t believe the time is right for negotiations, according to a European member of the Security Council who was briefed on the visit. Speaking in Tokyo on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the worst scenario would be to sleepwalk into a war with North Korea. ‘Strategic Option’ Kang Jun-young, who teaches Chinese studies at the graduate school of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said the Thaad issue will hang over talks. “China has strongly opposed Thaad and Xi has expressed his opposition several times,” said Kang, who also advises South Korea’s foreign ministry. “It’s a strategic option to move on because there are other issues to cooperate with” such as North Korea, he said. In an interview this week with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Moon said that Thaad should be dealt with separately from issues such as the economy, politics and national security. Separately, South Korea has asked China to investigate injuries to traveling journalists in Beijing after reports of assault at an event earlier Thursday. Yonhap News Agency reported that a photo journalist was hospitalized after being beaten by a group of Chinese guards. The leaders will also sign a memorandum of understanding to restart negotiations on expanding a two-year-old trade agreement to further open China’s service and investment sectors to South Korea companies.