South Korea’s Lee to Meet Xi With Trade, Pyongyang on the Agenda

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung (R) and his wife Kim Hea Kyung (L) board their plane to depart for China at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam on January 4, 2026. Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet Monday with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, with closer economic ties as well as the recalcitrant North on the agenda.

Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his meeting with Xi on Monday came a day after the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

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