Minister Kang Kyung-wha: "Due to the COVID-19 situation, the possibility of Xi Jinping's visit to Korea in the first half of the year has decreased"... Early visit to Korea this year remains the principle

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha stated that the possibility of Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting South Korea in the first half of the year has decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 28th, Minister Kang attended the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plenary session and said regarding President Xi's visit schedule, "There is no change to the basic principle of an early visit within this year, which is the fundamental agreement between the two countries," but added, "The possibility of a visit in the first half of the year has decreased due to the COVID-19 situation."

Regarding the allowance of entry for businesspeople between Korea and China, she mentioned that the institutionalization process is underway. Minister Kang explained, "There have been individual consultations with China, and in the spirit of institutionalizing this, we are discussing fast-track or exceptional entry procedures."

Concerning the stalled negotiations on the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing between South Korea and the United States, she said, "We proposed to the U.S. side to first resolve the issue of workers' labor costs by signing a separate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), but the U.S. did not accept it," and added, "The proposal to allocate a separate budget to cover labor costs was also rejected by the U.S., citing a lack of legal grounds."

She continued, "The Ministry of National Defense, the competent authority, is promoting a special law to support the livelihood stability of workers employed by the U.S. Forces Korea," and added, "We are making efforts to fundamentally resolve this issue through the conclusion of the Korea-U.S. SMA."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.