China Quickly Reports Yoon Seok-yeol's Presidential Election Victory

State-run media such as Renmin, Xinhua, and Huanqiu provide detailed coverage of election exit polls and vote counting
China and Korea are inseparable friendly neighbors... Expectations for the development of Korea-China relations

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] The overseas edition of the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, People's Daily Overseas, showed keen interest in the results of the 20th South Korean presidential election by reporting at 2:57 a.m. on the 10th that Yoon Seok-yeol, the candidate of the People Power Party, had won.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Overseas edition reported that Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, acknowledged his defeat and congratulated President-elect Yoon. It also conveyed that Lee expressed hope that President-elect Yoon would "open a new era of unification and reconciliation."

The state-run Xinhua News Agency also reported at 3:52 a.m. on the same day that candidate Yoon had won the South Korean presidential election. Xinhua added that Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea lost in the election held on the 9th.

The state-run Global Times provided detailed coverage on the 9th of exit poll results and vote counting status from various South Korean broadcasters. It also reported that the early voting rate, held on the 4th and 5th, reached 36.9%, the highest since the early voting system was introduced in 2014.

In an editorial titled "Relations between China and South Korea Must Move Forward, Not Backward," the media expressed concerns about China-South Korea relations. It analyzed that the 20th South Korean presidential election had two major characteristics. First, the competition was fierce as it was difficult to predict who would win. Second, unusually many issues related to China were raised in this election. While past elections focused more on North Korea, this time negative content about China was mentioned more frequently, which has caused concern within China.

Photo by Huanguo Shibao Capture

The media mentioned that this year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea. It emphasized that as of last year, trade volume between the two countries had increased more than 60 times compared to 30 years ago, and the annual number of exchanges reached 10 million people. It further stressed that China and South Korea are inseparable friendly neighbors.

The Global Times stated that relations between South Korea and China deteriorated due to the THAAD issue. However, it explained that through joint efforts, some consensus has been formed between China and South Korea on handling this matter.

The media also referred to the Northeast Project. It wrote that in recent years, there have been disputes in Chinese and Korean societies over food (Kimchi) and clothing (Hanbok), and that these issues have caused painful exchanges between the two sides. It said that such controversies only hurt the feelings of the peoples of both countries and are worthless. It emphasized the need to resolve conflicts between the two countries with a practical and rational attitude and a more open mind.

It added that over the past 30 years, relations between China and South Korea have experienced ups and downs, and regardless of who is elected, it sincerely congratulates the winner and looks forward to the development of China-South Korea relations.

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