Wang Yi to meet Lee on Korean peace initiative

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for a two-day visit that has drawn heightened attention amid accelerating diplomatic activity surrounding North Korea and rising tensions between Washington and Seoul over the Iran conflict and alliance costs. Wang, who serves as director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, is scheduled to meet President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, where Lee is expected to convey greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping and discuss the future of South Korea-China relations and regional developments.

The timing of Wang's visit has fanned speculation over whether Seoul will seek Beijing's support for Lee's newly proposed multiparty discussions on formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War. In his Liberation Day address on August 15, Lee proposed talks among parties concerned to replace what he called the peninsula's unstable armistice system with a peace regime. "Let us abandon intentions to threaten one another and begin discussions among the parties concerned to bring this very longstanding war to an end," Lee said at the time. China would be a key participant in...