Chinese leader to tour Samsung Electronics during South Korea

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to tour a main Samsung Electronics facility when he visits South Korea early next month, industry sources said Sunday.

Xi will be guided by the company's vice chairman Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of Samsung Group, and they will also hold talks, the sources said. The tour was arranged at Samsung's request, they said.

Xi is expected in South Korea in the first week of July.

Japanese media reports said he will visit on July 3-4.

The Chinese president will tour the tech giant's facility either in Suwon or Kiheung, both just about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the sources. He toured the Samsung plant in 2005 when he was a party official. In 2007, he visited the Samsung plant in the Chinese city of Suzhou.

Xi and Lee previously met in 2010 when Xi was vice president. (Yonhap)