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President Lee departs for four-day, two-city state visit to China

Published: 04 Jan. 2026, 12:25 Updated: 04 Jan. 2026, 16:10

SARAH KIM
[email protected]

President Lee Jae Myung, right, and first lady Kim Hea Kyung depart from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 4 for a four-day state visit to China. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Lee Jae Myung began a four-day state visit to China on Sunday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a meeting that is expected to focus on expanding economic and cultural cooperation, as well as on North Korea.

Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung departed from Seoul Air Base at around noon for the two-city trip, which will take them to Beijing and Shanghai.

This marks the first trip to China by a South Korean president in six years and the first state visit in nine. Former President Moon Jae-in last visited China in 2019.

Lee’s trip comes upon the invitation of Xi after the Chinese president made a state visit to South Korea for a summit with Lee on Nov. 1 on the margins of the APEC gathering in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang. It was Xi’s first visit to South Korea in 11 years.

On Monday, Lee and Xi will hold a bilateral summit, including an official welcoming ceremony, the summit talks themselves, a signing ceremony for memorandums of understanding (MOU) and a state banquet.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a press briefing Friday that Lee is expected to ask China to play a constructive role in resolving Korean Peninsula issues, saying that “people's livelihoods and peace cannot be separated.”

"Our countries share the common goal of bringing peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” Wi said. “To ensure that the full restoration of bilateral relations contributes to a breakthrough in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, we will strengthen strategic communication and urge China to play a constructive role in this matter."

He said that the two sides are also expected to seek ways to advance cultural issues, such as easing China's unofficial restrictions on Korean pop culture, or Hallyu.

China took retaliatory measures against South Korea's entertainment and tourism industries after Seoul allowed the United States to deploy its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) antimissile system in Korea in 2016.

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]

Lee will be accompanied by a large business delegation and attend a Korea-China business forum in Beijing on Monday.

On Tuesday, Lee will head to Shanghai for a two-day trip to visit the historic provisional government building, which served as the Korean government's headquarters from 1926 to 1932, marking its 100th anniversary. This year commemorates 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.

He is also scheduled to attend a Korea-China startup summit.

In an interview with China's state-run broadcaster CCTV, which aired Friday night, Lee said, “Regarding the Taiwan issue, which is arguably China's most pressing concern, our position of respecting the 'One China' principle remains unchanged."

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]