China backs Korean peace

Beijing pledges support ahead of critical summit

China will continue to fully support improving South and North Korea relations that contribute to the denuclearization and long-term stability of the peninsula, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday, a day before the two countries’ leaders meet for a third time this year.

China expects positive outcomes from the inter-Korean summit to enhance interactions between the two countries and maintain the momentum on the Korean Peninsula, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing on Monday.

Geng extended China’s sincere congratulations on the opening of a joint liaison office by the two Koreas at the border town of Kaesong on Friday.

“The launch of the office will help the two countries consolidate trust, improve ties, promote reconciliation and cooperation and will also create a favorable atmosphere for the upcoming summit,” Geng said.

The three-day summit, scheduled in Pyongyang from Tuesday to Thursday, will be the third meeting in less than five months between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since the first on April 27 at the border village of Panmunjom.

“With the good relationship between the heads of the two countries, there are fruitful results to be expected,” said a South Korean staff member, named herself Grace Kim, at the Seoul press center for the summit.

“The Korean Peninsula is the last place where World War II remains,” Kim told the Global Times on Monday. “It’s the last evidence of the Cold War and one of the highest expectations from the summit is peace for the people from the two countries.”

As of Monday, 2,690 reporters including 451 foreign reporters, had registered at the press center for the event, a staffer told the Global Times.

Denuclearization of the peninsula and a defusing of military tensions between the two Koreas would top the summit agenda, the Xinhua News Agency reported.