South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged Monday to bolster bilateral relations and safeguard regional stability during talks in Beijing, with Lee declaring he wants 2026 to mark the "first year of full-scale restoration" of ties between the two countries.

The summit at the Great Hall of the People was Lee's first trip to Beijing since taking office in June and his second meeting with Xi in just two months, signaling both nations' interest in deepening economic collaboration amid rising geopolitical tensions in the region.

"This summit will be an important opportunity to make 2026 the first year of full-scale restoration of Korea-China relations," Lee said, according to Reuters. "I believe that efforts to develop the strategic cooperation and partnership between the two countries into an irreversible trend of the times will continue."

Xi told Lee that China and South Korea bear "important responsibilities in maintaining regional peace and promoting global development" and share broad common interests, according to state-run broadcaster CCTV.

"They should stand firmly on the right side of history and make the right strategic choices," Xi said.

Xi references shared history against Japan

In an unusually direct reference to the shared Chinese and Korean experience of resisting Japan during World War II, Xi called on the two countries to jointly "preserve peace and stability in Northeast Asia."

"More than 80 years ago, China and South Korea made tremendous national sacrifices and won the victory against Japanese militarism," Xi told Lee, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

The remarks came against the backdrop of rising tensions between China and Japan following comments by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November 2025 suggesting that Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

Last week, China staged large-scale military drills around Taiwan for two days to warn against separatist and "external interference" forces.

Lee told Xi that Seoul respected Beijing's core interests and adhered to the one-China policy regarding Taiwan, according to the South China Morning Post.

Seok Byoung-hoon, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said Xi's comments suggested China wants Seoul to side with Beijing rather than Washington over cross-strait relations with Taiwan, and respect Beijing's position regarding the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

North Korea fires missiles as talks begin

Just hours before Lee's arrival in China, North Korea launched at least two ballistic missiles, its first such launches in two months. Leader Kim Jong Un cited the need for Pyongyang to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent.

During the summit, the two countries "affirmed the importance of resuming dialogue with North Korea and agreed to continue exploring creative ways to reduce tensions and build peace on the Korean Peninsula," Wi Sung-lac, Lee's security adviser, told a news briefing after the meeting.

Lee urged Beijing to help Seoul advance peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"Peace is the fundamental foundation for prosperity and growth, and it is essential that our two countries work together to contribute to it," Lee said.

China is a major ally of North Korea and provides it with an economic lifeline. In past years, China, together with Russia, has repeatedly blocked U.S. and allied attempts to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

The missile tests came as Pyongyang criticized the U.S. attack on Venezuela that resulted in the removal of President Maduro. North Korea, which has long feared the U.S. might seek regime change in Pyongyang, criticized the attack as a wild violation of Venezuela's sovereignty and an example of the "rogue and brutal nature of the U.S."

China had also condemned the U.S. operation, which it said violated international law and threatened peace in Latin America.

Cooperation agreements and trade expansion

Xi and Lee oversaw the signing of 15 cooperation agreements in areas such as technology, trade, transportation, intellectual property and environmental protection, CCTV reported.

Chinese and South Korean companies also signed nine cooperation agreements, South Korea's Trade Ministry said, naming Alibaba International, Lenovo and South Korean retailer Shinsegae among the participants.

Lee arrived for his four-day state visit on Sunday accompanied by a delegation of more than 200 South Korean business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung.

China and South Korea maintain robust trade ties, with bilateral trade reaching approximately $273 billion in 2024.

Lee said at a South Korea-China economic forum Monday morning that the two nations could be brought closer together by "consumer goods including beauty products and food, as well as cultural content such as film, music, games and sports."

He added that future-oriented technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, had the potential to raise cooperation to a new level.

"Now is the time to set course for a new route. Hesitation is natural, but without changing direction, we may never discover a new path at all," Lee said.

Cultural exchanges remain uncertain

The two leaders agreed to work toward a gradual reopening of cultural and content exchanges, according to Seoul's presidential office.

"At the summit, the two sides agreed to advance consultations on the details of expanding cultural and content exchanges gradually and step by step, starting in areas acceptable to both sides," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a statement.

Whether China will lift an unofficial ban on Korean culture — imposed after South Korea's 2016 deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system — has drawn renewed attention.

However, South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said in a radio interview Monday that Beijing was unlikely to lift the unofficial ban on Korean culture any time soon.

Lee, elected in a snap election in June, has promised to strengthen ties with the United States without antagonizing China, while seeking to reduce tensions with North Korea. His Democratic Party of Korea tends to call for more open ties with China than the rival People Power Party of his predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol.

Regarding South Korea's military cooperation with the U.S., Lee said during an interview with CCTV ahead of his trip that it shouldn't mean that South Korea-China relations should move toward confrontation.

He added that his visit to China aimed to "minimize or eliminate past misunderstandings or contradictions and elevate and develop South Korea-China relations to a new stage."

After a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People, Lee snapped a selfie of the presidential couples using a Chinese-made Xiaomi smartphone that Xi had given him during his state visit to South Korea late last year. At that time, the Chinese president jokingly urged Lee to "check if there's a backdoor."

"The image quality is certainly good, right?" Lee said in a social media post. "Thanks to you, I got the picture of a lifetime."