President Lee to make four-day state visit to China from Sunday
Published: 30 Dec. 2025, 18:08
Updated: 30 Dec. 2025, 19:04
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- SARAH KIM
- [email protected]
![Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral summit at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 1. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/30/098f5677-febb-4af0-aa33-bdc52d9f589a.jpg)
Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral summit at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 1. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Korean President Lee Jae Myung will make a four-day state visit to China from Sunday, the Blue House announced Tuesday, to build on their bilateral strategic cooperative partnership and strengthen economic and historical ties.
Lee will visit Beijing from Jan. 4 to 6 for a summit and a state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and other official bilateral events, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a press briefing at the Blue House in central Seoul.
The president will travel to Shanghai from Jan. 6 to 7, added Kang, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Korean independence activist Kim Koo, who served as the first head of the Korean provisional government in exile in Shanghai during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. The trip will also mark the 100th anniversary of the main provisional government building in Shanghai, which served as the government's headquarters from 1926 to 1932.
The upcoming trip will be Lee's first visit to China since taking office, and it reciprocates Xi's three-day state visit to South Korea at the end of October. The two leaders previously held a summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 1 on the margins of the APEC summit.
Lee will become the first Korean leader to make a state visit to China in nine years. Then President Moon Jae-in visited China last in 2019.
A large business delegation is expected to accompany Lee on the China trip, though the Blue House has yet to confirm the delegation's size or membership.
Industry sources said Tuesday the delegation, arranged by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is expected to include some 200 business leaders. This could include the heads of Korea's four major conglomerates — Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. The delegation could also include representation from entertainment companies such as SM Entertainment.
![Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, left, holds a press briefing announcing President Lee Jae Myung's four-day state visit to China in early January at the Blue House in central Seoul on Dec. 30. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/30/04088b3e-99e7-431e-98e3-73c52a9c6099.jpg)
Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, left, holds a press briefing announcing President Lee Jae Myung's four-day state visit to China in early January at the Blue House in central Seoul on Dec. 30. [YONHAP]
She added that the two leaders also plan to “discuss ways to achieve concrete results that will contribute substantially to the livelihoods of the people of both countries, including in areas such as supply chains, investment, the digital economy, response to transnational crime and the environment.”
Likewise, several memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between relevant ministries are also expected to be signed on the occasion of the state visit.
Kang said the two sides share "expectations for mutually beneficial economic cooperation outcomes," such as in critical mineral supply chains and mutual investments.
Lee is also expected to meet with other Chinese leaders, attend business events and meet with the Korean community in China.
The trip comes as Lee tries to play a mediating role in Northeast Asia, to normalize relations between South Korea and China, and to advance talks with North Korea.
Regarding whether there will be efforts to lift China's retaliatory measures imposed on Korea's entertainment and tourism sectors over the 2016 decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense antimissile system, or Thaad, to Korea, Kang said that some agenda items "are still being coordinated between the two leaders, and opportunities for economic cooperation are being expanded."
When asked about the president's choice to visit China as his first destination for the new year, Kang said the invitation came up during the APEC summit and that "President Lee also expressed his wish to visit China sooner."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry simultaneously announced on Tuesday the Korean president's state visit early next year, expressing its anticipation for the development of bilateral relations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press briefing in Beijing that Lee's visit would mark his first trip to China since his inauguration in June, adding that the countries are "important neighbors and cooperative partners."
Lin added that China hopes that under the "strategic guidance of the two leaders," the visit "will play a positive role in further promoting the development of the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership."
BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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