The chief of South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party on Monday departed for China, where he is scheduled to hold policy talks with China’s ruling Communist Party and possibly meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Kim Moo-sung’s four-day visit comes at the invitation of the Communist Party, which last month requested his attendance at the first policy talks between the two parties to be held in Beijing on Tuesday.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi agreed during their summit meeting last year to hold four types of strategic talks involving their countries’ top foreign policy and national security officials, government think tanks, and ruling parties.
During his trip, Kim plans to propose regular exchanges between the two parties and invite the Communist Party to attend a second round of policy talks in South Korea next year, Saenuri officials said.
This year’s talks are expected to focus on ways to eliminate corruption.
A key focus of interest is whether Kim will meet with Xi during his four-day stay that also includes a luncheon with Wang Jiarui, head of the Communist Party’s international department, a meeting with Korean residents in Beijing and a meeting with Korean businessmen in Shanghai.
Saenuri officials said Kim and Xi are likely to meet on Tuesday to discuss their countries’ mutual foreign policy issues.
Kim, 63, a five-term lawmaker, was elected the Saenuri chief at a national convention in early July. His visit to China is his first trip overseas since taking office.
Kim is considered one of Saenuri’s leading presidential aspirants in the next election scheduled for 2017. President Park’s single five-year term ends in early 2018, and by law, she cannot seek re-election. (Yonhap)
