South Korea foreign minister to visit China this week, Yonhap reports

South Korea foreign minister to visit China this week, Yonhap reports

SEOUL, September 12, 2025 — South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is set to visit China this week, according to reports from Yonhap News Agency. The visit, scheduled for Wednesday, will see Cho meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing.

The primary agenda for the meeting is to discuss the potential attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea. This will be Cho's first trip to China since he assumed the role of foreign minister in June .

The visit comes amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Korea for the APEC summit on October 31 in Gyeongju. Trump has expressed his desire to meet with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, during his Asia trip .

Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood side by side with Kim Jong Un for a military parade and held a separate meeting with the North Korean leader, their first in six years. Notably, Beijing's official readout of the Xi-Kim talks did not refer to "denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula for the first time in years, a move seen as a significant concession to Kim .

South Korea has urged Beijing to play a constructive role in bringing Pyongyang to dialogue over its nuclear programme. The upcoming meeting between Cho and Wang Yi is expected to address these complex diplomatic issues.