Full Text

Chronology of China-Korea Relations July-September 2009 July 1, 2009: China lifts 10-year antidumping duties on South Korean newsprint papers. July 2, 2009: South Korea’s POSCO agrees to invest 220 billion won ($174 million) in a 65 percent joint venture ferromanganese plant with China’s Dongbu Metal Co. July 2, 2009: North Korea launches four short-range cruise missiles off its east coast. July 2-14, 2009: Chinese nuclear envoy Wu Dawei makes a four-nation trip on DPRK denuclearization. He meets ROK counterpart Wi Sung-lac and Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek in Seoul on July 13 and Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak on July 14. July 3, 2009: South Korea’s Hanwha Chemical Corp. begins constructing its $380 million polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Ningbo, China. July 4, 2009: North Korea launches seven short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. July 6, 2009: South Korea and China ratify a treaty allowing convicts to serve prison sentences in their home country, to come into force Aug. 5. July 7, 2009: Chosun Ilbo reports that over 500 China-made vehicles suspected of being intended for military use were shipped into North Korea over the past month. July 10-29, 2009: The Pyongyang Student Art Troupe tours China to celebrate the Year of DPRK-China Friendship. China-Korea Relations 107 October 2009 July 13-15, 2009: ROK National Assembly deputy speaker Lee Yoon-seong meets Wu Bangguo, chairman of the PRC National People’s Congress Standing Committee, in Beijing for the fourth ROK-PRC parliamentary exchange meeting. July 14, 2009: ROK Ministry of Justice eases visa application procedures for Chinese tourists. July 21, 2009: Korea Exchange Bank is approved by China’s financial regulator to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in China. July 21, 2009: South Korea’s LG Chem and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) establish a joint venture plant in China. July 23, 2009: Heads of the central banks of China, South Korea, and Japan hold their first regular meeting in Shenzhen, China. July 28, 2009: Chinese Customs authorities seize North Korea-bound vanadium, a strategic metal used to strengthen steel. July 30, 2009: A Chinese investment company developing a copper mine in North Korea with a DPRK company sanctioned under UNSC resolutions pulls out of the joint project. Aug. 3-7, 2009: A Communist Party of China delegation makes a goodwill visit to Pyongyang and meets Worker’s Party of Korea counterparts. Aug. 9, 2009: Four South Koreans are indicted for trying to sell air-conditioning information to China worth 120 billion won ($97.6 million) in potential losses for LG Electronics. Aug. 12, 2009: Korea Central News Agency reports Kim Jong-il’s vow to strengthen “long-standing precious DPRK-China friendship.” Aug. 13, 2009: Ssangyong Motor Co. resumes operations after an 83-day production halt. Aug. 14, 2009: The U.A.E. reports to the UNSC the seizure of North Korean arms shipments to Iran which were reportedly carried on Chinese and Australian vessels. Aug. 16-21, 2009: A Chinese delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei visits North Korea and meets DPRK officials including Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, Park Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, and Kim Kye Gwan, vice minister of Foreign Affairs. Aug. 18, 2009: President Hu sends a condolence message to President Lee over the death of former President Kim Dae-Jung. Aug. 20, 2009: He Yong, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, visits Seoul and meets Rep. China-Korea Relations 108 October 2009 Ahn Sang-soo, floor leader of the Grand National Party, National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. Aug. 23, 2009: Former Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan attends former ROK President Kim Dae-jung’s funeral in Seoul. Aug. 26, 2009: North Korea opens a consular branch in the Chinese border town of Dandong. Sept. 1, 2009: A DPRK delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il visits China and meets Chinese Foreign Ministry officials. Sept. 1, 2009: South Korea’s biggest wire and cable maker LS Cable ltd. acquires a 75.14 percent stake in China’s Hubei Yongding Hongqi Electronics Co. Sept. 2, 2009: ROK Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min and Chinese and Japanese counterparts at a joint forum in Busan agree to strengthen cultural industry cooperation. Sept. 7, 2009: South Korea’s Hana Bank announces plans to invest in an 18.44 percent stake worth $316 million in the Bank of Jilin in northeast China. Sept. 8, 2009: POSCO announces plans to build its 16th automotive steel processing plant in China in Shenyang. Sept. 8, 2009: Doosan Infracore Co. and Xuzhou Construction Machinery, South Korea and China’s biggest construction equipment makers, respectively, agree to establish an RMB680 million ($100 million) joint venture in diesel engine. Sept. 10, 2009: Chinese police report a 2003 discovery of the bodies of 56 North Koreans attempting to flee to China in the Yalu River. Sept. 11, 2009: Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co. completes construction of its polypropylene plant in southern China, the company’s first overseas plant. Sept. 15, 2009: Ssangyong Motor Co. announces it will cancel 80 percent of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. shares and convert 393 billion won ($321.5 million) in debt into new shares as part of a turnaround plan. Sept. 16-18, 2009: A Chinese delegation led by State Councilor Dai Bingguo visits Pyongyang and meets top legislator Kim Yong-nam and Vice Foreign Ministers Kang Sok-ju and Kim Yong-il. Dai delivers a letter from President Hu to Kim Jong-il. Sept. 17, 2009: South Korea’s Boryung Pharmaceutical Co. seeks a permit for the domestic sale of Chinese-made flu vaccine. China-Korea Relations 109 October 2009 China-Korea Relations 110 October 2009 Sept. 21-24, 2009: A Chinese media delegation led by Zhang Yannong, president of People’s Daily, visits Pyongyang and meets Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly. Sept. 22, 2009: Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, meets Kil Chol-hyok, secretary of the DPRK Central Committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, in Beijing. Sept. 22-26, 2009: A DPRK military delegation led by Pak Jae Gyong, vice minister of the People’s Armed Forces, visits China and meets Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. Sept. 23, 2009: Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Hu Jintao hold a summit in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Sept. 23, 2009: Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. announces its 44 billion won ($36.8 million) plan to construct a rubber accelerator plant in China by 2011. Sept. 24, 2009: Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec Group) agree to cooperate in overseas oil exploration, production, and trading. Sept. 28-29, 2009: Foreign ministers of ROK, China, and Japan hold their annual trilateral ministerial meeting in Shanghai. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and ROK counterpart Yu Myung Hwan hold bilateral talks on Sept. 29. Sept. 30, 2009: Kim Jong-il sends a congratulatory letter to President Hu on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Sept. 30, 2009: Hyundai Steel Co. signs a deal with China National Minerals Co. to buy 150,000 tons of coal annually for three years.