Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit South Korea to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, while US President Donald Trump remains undecided, a journalist said Saturday, citing his conversation with President Lee Jae Myung.
Jeong Kyu-jae, a former editor-in-chief of the Korean Economic Daily, made the remarks in a video on his YouTube channel as he shared details of his luncheon meeting with Lee on Friday, including his possible attendance of an upcoming military parade in Beijing.
“Xi Jinping will visit the APEC summit in Gyeongju,” the conservative critic quoted Lee as saying. “(He) effectively said that US President Donald Trump also needs to come but a decision appears to have not yet been made.”
South Korea will host this year’s summit of the 21 APEC economies in Gyeongju, about 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, between late October and early November.
Meanwhile, Lee said he was undecided on whether he would attend China’s military parade in September, which marks the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II, according to Jeong.
Sources have said that China has sounded out South Korea about Lee possibly attending the parade. Former President Park Geun-hye attended the same event in 2015 despite Washington’s displeasure.
“I got the impression that he was considering the attendance issue very carefully,” Jeong said, noting Park’s experience. (Yonhap)
