President Yoon says, “We expect China’s active role on North Korea's threat”

President Yoon Suk-yeol held his first face-to-face summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia, where the G20 summit was held on Nov. 15 and discussed North Korea's nuclear and missile issues and ways to cooperate for the development of bilateral relations.

At the Korea-China summit, which took place three years after December 2019, President Yoon expressed concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and asked China to play an active and constructive role.

President Xi said, "China and South Korea have a common interest in the issue of the Korean Peninsula," adding, "We need to protect peace and hope that South Korea will actively improve inter-Korean relations."

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China, the two leaders agreed to promote high-level dialogue and agreed to develop bilateral relations based on mutual respect, reciprocity and common interests.

President Yoon emphasized the international community based on universal values.

Meanwhile, President Xi said, "Let's create true multilateralism together. Since President Yoon was elected in March, we have communicated several times by exchanging phone calls and letters, which shows that we value China-Korea relations very much."

President Xi said. "Not long ago, there was a crushing accident in Seoul, causing great casualties. I express my condolences once again and send my sincere condolences to the bereaved families and the injured."

Earlier on Nov. 14, President Yoon emphasized the importance of changing government's roles to overcome the complex global crisis and digital transformation at the B20 Summit, which was attended by representatives from economic organizations and business leaders of G20 states.

"We must find the solution to the complex crisis of the global economy on the private sector-led supply side, and the key to supply innovation lies with digital transformation," he said.

"Unlike the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic crisis, the crisis we face is mostly because of the supply side instead of demand factors," he added. "We must also search for the crisis response solution on the supply side and change the role of government."

President Yoon said, "Given global circumstances, the key to private sector-driven supply innovation lies with digital transformation."

Turning to his administration's policy, Yoon said, "The Korean government as a core task is promoting a 'digital platform government' led by the private sector to greatly boost the quality of public services and forming a new environment creating new value by combining public data and private services."

On the same day, President Yoon chatted with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Korea-Indonesia Business Roundtable at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center in Bali.

In a light conversation, President Yoon said, "Both countries must bolster supply chain links given their complementary industrial structures."

"As part of this, Korea is an optimal partner for Indonesia thanks to its cutting-edge manufacturing technologies in sectors like semiconductors, batteries and cars and Indonesia is pushing its vision 'Making Indonesia 4.0' to develop its manufacturing sector based on its abundant natural resources."

President Yoon also told his Indonesian counterpart that he hopes for close bilateral cooperation by taking advantage of each other's strengths in clean energy sectors such as nuclear, renewable and hydrogen as well as in digital economy .

The two sides also signed six government-level memorandums of understanding (MOU) on tasks like holding high-level bilateral dialogue on investment. In the corporate sector, they signed four MOUs including one on cooperation in smart city development.