SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea and China will push to normalize their ties badly strained over the deployment of a contentious U.S. missile defense system in the South, both countries announced Tuesday, with Seoul saying their leaders are set to hold summit talks next week.
South Korea allowed the United States to install the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system on its soil this year, triggering angry rhetoric and economic retaliation from China which views THAAD’s powerful radar as a threat to its own security. South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said the system is only aimed at defending against North Korea’s advancing nuclear threats, rather than peering into Chinese territory.
On Tuesday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said there was recently diplomatic communication between the two countries, during which they agreed to put bilateral exchange and cooperation back on a normal track soon and boost cooperation for a peaceful, diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.
The ministry statement said Beijing reaffirmed its opposition to THAAD and asked South Korea to handle “relevant issues appropriately” while South Korea reiterated the system doesn’t target China. It said military officials of the two countries will discuss Chinese worries about the THAAD system.
Seoul’s presidential office announced separately that President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold summit talks next week on the sidelines of an annual regional forum in Vietnam. It would be their second one-on-one meeting since Moon’s inauguration in May.