Wang Yi urges Seoul not to take sides, blames US for Korea tensions
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- Wang Yi told South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac that the "fundamental solution" to Korean Peninsula tensions lies in addressing root causes and "urging the United States to abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea," per Xinhua.
- Wang Yi urged South Korea to achieve "genuine strategic autonomy, refrain from bloc confrontation and taking sides," and develop relations with both China and the U.S. "in parallel and without contradiction."
- Wang Yi also met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, telling him a "rational, pragmatic, and positive policy towards China" aligns with Seoul's interests and called for early completion of second-stage free trade agreement talks.
- Trump said Wednesday he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year and claimed North Korea holds 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, while ordering Pentagon officials to cut short joint US-South Korea military exercises.
- North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea on Thursday, per Japan's government and coastguard, underscoring the active tension Wang Yi was sent to address.
- The US maintains its official stance demanding North Korean denuclearization, which Pyongyang has consistently rejected — a gap Wang Yi's call for "peaceful coexistence" sidesteps rather than confronts.
Why it matters: Wang Yi's Seoul visit lands in the immediate wake of Trump's unilateral cuts to US-South Korea drills and his planned Kim summit, positioning Beijing as the diplomatic counterweight pushing Seoul toward "strategic autonomy." South Korea now faces parallel Chinese pressure (FTA acceleration, friendly policy demands) alongside Trump's personal-channel diplomacy with Kim, raising the cost for Seoul of aligning cleanly with either capital during the same week North Korea test-fired a missile.
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