Photo : YONHAP News
President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping have discussed Beijing’s steel structures in the Yellow Sea where the exclusive economic zones of the two countries overlap, Seoul said Wednesday.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kang Yu-jung confirmed that the two leaders talked about the maritime structures during their summit this week, as well as in November on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Gyeongju.
Kang said Xi was fully aware of the issue, retracting a statement made the previous day that the Chinese leader seemed to be unaware of the structures in the Provisional Measures Zone.
The spokesperson explained that it was not initially mentioned in detail because there are usually conversations between leaders about the overall direction of ties within a broad framework.
Kang said the two leaders agreed to continue constructive working-level consultations on the structures in the Yellow Sea, based on consensus in the current larger framework, adding the government hopes progress will be made.
The presidential official said in a briefing on Tuesday that Seoul’s position is that the Yellow Sea should be a peaceful and “co-prosperous” sea for the stable development of bilateral ties, amid concerns about Beijing’s growing territorial assertiveness in the South and East China seas.