Chinese, South Korean Leaders Ready To Enhance Cooperation On Korean Peninsula - Reports

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in voiced on Saturday their commitment to strengthen cooperation and coordination of efforts toward the Korean peninsula crisis settlement, local media reported.

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th November, 2018) Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in voiced on Saturday their commitment to strengthen cooperation and coordination of efforts toward the Korean peninsula crisis settlement, local media reported.

"Over the past year, there have been significant positive changes in the situation on the Korean peninsula. Generally, the discussions of the situation have returned to a proper manner, that of a dialogue, and facts prove that our efforts are efficient," China Central Television quoted Xi as saying during his meeting with Moon on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, currently underway in Papua New Guinea.

Xi went on to praise Moon's efforts to ease tensions in the region and promote peaceful cooperation between Seoul and Pyongyang.

"The Chinese side supports constant improvement of relations between the South and the North. As the Korean peninsula situation is currently on a crucially important stage, China and South Korea need to enhance contacts and cooperation to promote denuclearization and create a peace mechanism on the Korean peninsula," he said.

The Chinese leader emphasized the importance of flexibility for the sake of the Beijing-Seoul dialogue.

Moon, in his turn, said that China and South Korea were both interested in ensuring peace and stability in northeastern Asia.

"Seoul highly estimates the important role that Beijing plays in ... settling the Korean peninsula problem. Seoul voices its sincere gratitude to China, and it is ready for an even closer cooperation and coordination with the Chinese side," he said.

The situation on the Korean peninsula has improved since the beginning of this year as North Korean leader Kim Jon Un engaged in an active dialogue with Moon and US President Donald Trump. During the landmark Kim-Trump summit in June, the two leaders agreed that North Korea would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills as well as the potential removal of US sanctions.