Chinese Foreign Vice-Minister Sun Weidong and Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Chinese military’s international cooperation office, will be in Seoul today to take part in the “2+2” diplomatic and security dialogue, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed. They will meet with South Korea Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong-kyun, and a South Korean defense official. As South Korea welcomes its Chinese visitors, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un hosts a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin, his first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years.
It is certainly likely that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are working in tandem here, in an effort to intervene in the growing tension between North and South Korea, fired up by the U.S. campaign to provoke a crisis with China, Russia and North Korea. It is quite likely that certain Western officials fear the possibility of a diplomatic success even more dramatic than the rapprochement China accomplished on March 10, 2023 between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry reports that, during the meeting, “the two countries plan to exchange views on issues of mutual interest including bilateral relations, Korean Peninsula issues, and regional and international situations.”
