Foreign Minister Cho holds first conversation with Chinese counterpart

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi over the phone on Tuesday, marking the first time the two spoke since Cho’s appointment last month...

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi over the phone on Tuesday, marking the first time the two spoke since Cho’s appointment last month.

In the 50-minute conversation, Cho and Wang discussed topics such as high-level visits, supply chains and the North Korean nuclear issue, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said.

However, the ministries of both countries highlighted slightly different parts of the conversation.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement on Tuesday included Wang's comments that seemed to place China over Korea's other partners.

“Wang Yi emphasized that ‘distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors,’” said the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, calling for closer cooperation between Beijing and Seoul.

It also quoted Wang’s statements that seemed to defend North Korea in light of its recent military provocations.

“Wang Yi said that the current tension on the Korean Peninsula has a cause, and he hopes that all parties will remain calm and restrained, refrain from words and deeds that aggravate tension, and resolve their legitimate concerns through dialogue and consultation,” said the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.

The statement from the Chinese ministry also highlighted that Wang called on the Korean government to abide by the one-China policy,

On the other hand, the South Korean Foreign Ministry focused on denuclearizing the North and the North Korean defector issue.

Cho called on China to protect the human rights of North Korean defectors in China and for China to play a “constructive role” in convincing North Korea to stop its military provocations and to engage in dialogue for denuclearization, according to the ministry.

The South Korean statement also mentioned the resolve to host a leaders' summit between Korea, China and Japan soon — a matter not noted in the Chinese statement.

Wang was said to have invited Cho to China for further discussions on matters of bilateral importance, according to the Korean ministry.

The two statements showed agreement on bilateral cooperation for supply chain stability.

"China and the ROK have close economic ties and highly interconnected production and supply chains, so the two sides should work together to maintain the stability and smoothness of the production and supply chains, and resist the politicization, pan-security and instrumentalization of economic issues," said the statement from Beijing, echoing the South Korean statement.

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

The call with Wang took place weeks later than Cho's calls with his counterparts in the United States and Japan. Cho spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken the day after his appointment on Jan. 10 and with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Jan. 23.

He also spoke soon afterward with the foreign ministers of Australia and Vietnam and received a visit by the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Philip Goldberg, at his office on Jan. 30.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]