President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping plan to hold a meeting in Beijing next month and are expected to discuss "important pending issues," the South Korean Ambassador to China, Kim Jang-soo, said Monday.
Park will visit China on Sept. 2-4 to attend events marking China's victory over Japan in World War II, although it remains undecided whether she will attend a huge military parade on Sept. 3.
Kim said the decision by Park to visit Beijing next month was based on a "relationship of trust" between Park and Xi.
"During her stay in Beijing, President Park will have in-depth discussions about important pending issues with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping," Kim said in his article contributed to the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.
Kim made the contribution in the wake of the 23rd anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between South Korea and China.
The ambassador did not give details about the bilateral meeting between Park and Xi, but North Korea is expected to top the agenda.
High-level officials of the two Koreas have been holding crisis talks for a third day on Monday after failing to compromise in the previous two days of talks.
Tensions between the two Koreas began escalating after an investigation found that the North secretly planted landmines on the southern side of the border, which exploded and severely injured two South Korean soldiers early this month.
The South retaliated by resuming anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts along the border, dealing a blow to one of the sore points for a regime underpinned by the tight control of information. An angered North Korea fired artillery rounds into the South earlier this week, which led to a rare exchange of fire between the two sides.
North Korea had threatened to take strong military action unless the South halts the broadcasts and dismantles the loudspeaker facilities by Saturday afternoon. But just hours before the deadline, the North proposed to hold talks to defuse the crisis. (Yonhap)
