President Lee Jae-myung said on the 28th that while the alliance with the United States is the most important element of diplomacy, managing relations with China also matters.
Lee made the remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he shared data on the trend in South Korea's exports to China. According to the material he released, monthly exports to China have averaged $15.1 billion under the Lee administration, 36% higher than the $11 billion monthly average under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
Exports to China rose sharply after the South Korea-China summit held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last November, the data showed. Monthly exports to China averaged $11.1 billion from June to October last year, before the APEC summit, but climbed to $17 billion from November last year through August this year.
"The greatest goals of diplomacy are the national interest, which means national development and better livelihoods," Lee said. "For South Korea, an open trading nation, exports are the most important factor for industrial development and for improving people's livelihoods."
He also pledged to press ahead with policies to improve living conditions. "We are doing our utmost to secure momentum for economic recovery and sustained growth in order to improve economic conditions, while also making every effort to ease social polarization," Lee said. "Once next year's budget begins to be spent, people will start to feel the difference considerably and their living environment will improve," he added. "We will also soon prepare extraordinary measures to address housing, jobs and debt problems."
Lee's comments came a day after he returned home from a trip to the United States and Mexico. He had visited New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, where he held an unannounced summit with U.S. President Donald Trump that highlighted the alliance with Washington. The latest remarks are seen as signaling that he does not intend to neglect diplomacy with China either.
