South Korea tells China it wants to normalise ties, Yonhap reports

South Korea is hoping to normalise relations with China that have been strained in recent years, the leader of a high-level delegation from Seoul said during a visit to Beijing on Sunday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sent envoys to his country's main trading partner as he traveled to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.

Former assembly speaker Park Byeong-seug, the head of the delegation, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and handed over a letter from Lee to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries have improved since a 2017 dispute over South Korea's deployment of a U.S. missile defence system, which Beijing opposed.

But they exchanged harsh words in 2023 about critical comments on Beijing by South Korea's last president, Yoon Suk Yeol.

Park told Wang Yi on Sunday he hoped the delegation would "open the door to normalising South Korea-China relations, which have been strained in recent years," Yonhap said.