(Photo grabbed from Reuters video)
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (Reuters) — Chinese vice foreign minister Zhang Yesui held a meeting with South Korean counterpart Lim Sung-nam in Seoul on Tuesday (February 16) amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s rocket launch.
During the 7th vice-ministerial strategic dialogue, which is the first one since 2013, Zhang and Lim were expected to discuss countermeasures on North Korea’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test, South Korean foreign ministry said.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket on February 7 carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test on January 6.
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, North Korea’s neighbor and main ally, said on Friday (February 12) that Beijing supported a U.N. Security Council resolution to make Pyongyang “pay the necessary price” for the launch.
He also expressed concern over a possible U.S. deployment of its sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to South Korea, saying it could also be used to target China.
U.S. military officials have said the THAAD system is needed in South Korea, but Seoul had been reluctant to openly discuss its deployment given the risk of damaging ties with China, its biggest trade partner.
