Senior diplomats of S. Korea, China hold virtual talks ahead of ASEAN summits

Senior diplomats of South Korea and China held video talks on Monday to discuss upcoming summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other bilateral issues, the foreign ministry said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gunn met virtually with his Chinese counterpart, Luo Zhaohui, ahead of the ASEAN Plus Three summit involving their countries and Japan and the East Asia Summit to be joined by 18 countries including the United States, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Vietnam, this year's host, has announced its decision to hold the talks via videoconferencing due to coronavirus concerns. The meetings are scheduled to take place from Thursday through Sunday.

In Mondays' talks, Kim and Luo exchanged opinions about the summit agenda and agreed that the virtual meetings will help ASEAN and its partners continue cooperation and coordination despite the pandemic.

Kim said that expanding cooperation in public health and medicine among the participating countries will help fuel economic recovery in the region.

On bilateral ties, the two sides discussed efforts to strengthen cooperation in COVID-19 responses and to further develop the relationship through promoting friendly sentiment and close communication at each level, the ministry said. (Yonhap)