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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping wave to children present at a welcome ceremony for Lee marking the beginning of his state visit in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Jan. 5, 2026. (Yonhap)

In their second summit in just over two months, Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping identified bolstering strategic communication as a key task to work on.

Xi responded warmly to Lee’s suggestion that the two leaders meet “at least once every year,” stating that “as friends and neighbors, China and the ROK should conduct more frequent exchanges and closer communication,” using the acronym for South Korea’s official name. That suggests the two countries have moved a step closer to inaugurating regular meetings.

Another major milestone of the summit was the signing of 14 memoranda of understanding on protecting intellectual property rights, among other issues.

Lee described his meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing as “an important opportunity for making this the first year of fully restoring Korea-China relations.”

“We will continue horizontal and mutually beneficial cooperation in areas directly connected with the public standard of living as we redouble our efforts to resolve livelihood issues,” Lee remarked.

Whereas Lee and Xi’s summit in November 2025 was focused on restoring the two countries’ relationship, which had soured under Lee’s predecessor, President Yoon Suk-yeol, this summit sought to go beyond restoring bilateral relations by achieving meaningful progress on economic cooperation and other matters. That’s also why Lee was accompanied by around 400 businesspeople on his trip to China.

During the summit, Lee seemed determined to use economic cooperation on areas of mutual interest as momentum for improving relations while steering clear of sensitive issues of geopolitics or national security.

That was the background of the remarks Lee made about Byeongnando, a major port during the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), during a Korea-China business forum before the summit. Lee noted that Byeongnando, which had become a hub of economic and cultural exchange, helped maintain international peace amid diplomatic tensions and disputes.

On Monday, the Korean and Chinese leaders signed 14 MOUs in various areas, including intellectual property rights, industry and the environment, and 15 other documents, including a certificate pledging that Chinese cultural heritages currently held in Korea would be returned to China.

The MOU about increasing cooperation in the area of intellectual property rights is particularly noteworthy. Mediating conflicts about intellectual property rights has been a long-standing desire of Korean companies operating in China.

Korea and China also agreed to hold meetings between their respective trade ministers, which had been irregular, on a regular basis. That’s part of a push to more systematically manage economic and commercial agendas between the two countries and cooperate more closely on industrial complexes to stabilize supply chains.

Lee asked Xi for his active cooperation on bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula on Monday.

“I will join you in exploring practical options for achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. We need to ensure that both our countries contribute jointly to peace, which is the basic foundation for prosperity and growth,” the Korean president said.

As North Korea’s longtime ally and biggest trading partner, China’s assistance is essential if the Lee administration is to make headway on improving inter-Korean relations and restarting North Korea-US dialogue around the time of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China in April.

While Xi did not explicitly refer to North Korea on Monday, he emphasized that Seoul-Beijing relations are on firmer ground than before.

“China and the ROK shoulder important responsibilities in safeguarding regional peace and promoting global development. Both countries, with broad common interests, should stand firmly on the right side of history and make correct strategic choices,” Xi declared, adding that “friends and neighbors grow closer as they spend more time together.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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