South Korea, a key military ally of the United States, hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state summit, putting its delicate diplomatic balancing act on full display. President Lee Jae Myung sought Xi’s help on North Korea, just days after securing a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Lee, who was elected in June, has promised to strengthen ties with Washington while not antagonising Beijing. He used the summit with Xi to push for renewed dialogue with North Korea, based on a phased approach that Pyongyang immediately dismissed as a “pipe dream.”
The U.S. context was unavoidable. Lee discussed the lingering Chinese ban on South Korean entertainment, which was imposed after the 2017 deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system. He also raised concerns about Chinese sanctions on U.S-linked units of a South Korean shipbuilder.
Xi, for his part, stressed cooperation, calling South Korea an “inseparable partner” and signing seven economic agreements. Chinese state media reports, however, avoided the North Korea issue and focused on Xi’s calls for respecting “core interests” and boosting cooperation in AI and green energy.
The U.S. presence was also felt through President Trump’s recent visit, where he offered talks to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un—who did not publicly respond—before Trump himself departed ahead of the main APEC summit that Xi attended.