Chronologies
China - Korea
Chronology from Jan 2020 to May 2020
: North Korea foreign ministry backs China’s security legislation for Hong Kong.
: China’s foreign ministry expresses Beijing’s opposition to THAAD deployment.
: Premier Li Keqiang expresses support for China-Japan-ROK economic cooperation.
: ROK Coast Guard arrests a Chinese national who illegally entered by boat in May 20 with seven others.
: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi states that US-DPRK dialogue is a prerequisite for resolving the Korean Peninsula issue and expresses support for China-Japan-ROK cooperation on COVID-19.
: China’s foreign ministry expresses China’s willingness to continue cooperation with South Korea and Japan on COVID-19.
: Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visits China, where he inspects the company’s Xian chip plant and meets Shaanxi Governor Hu Heping.
: South Korea’s defense ministry indicates that plans to repatriate remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War have been postponed this spring due to COVID-19.
: PRC, ROK, and Japanese health ministers hold a trilateral teleconference.
: Leaders Xi Jinping and Moon Jae-in and defense ministers Wei Fenghe and Jeong Kyeong-doo hold separate telephone talks.
: China’s National Development and Reform Commission releases guidelines on establishing the China-ROK (Changchun) International Cooperation Demonstration Zone.
: First group of Korean electronics workers depart Seoul for Tianjin through fast-track entry.
: Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping exchange verbal messages of support.
: Two chartered flights depart from Seoul with the first group of Korean high-tech workers returning to Wuhan.
: Director-general talks between PRC and ROK foreign ministries reach an agreement to implement fast-track entry for each other’s business travelers from May 1.
: ROK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gunn and PRC Ambassador Xing Haiming meet in Seoul.
: The Palace Museum and China Tourism Office in Seoul jointly launch an Online Spring Forbidden City Photo Exhibition.
: China’s foreign ministry indicates that China has sent coronavirus testing kits to North Korea.
: A CCP International Liaison Department senior official reportedly leads a delegation to North Korea amid speculation over Kim Jong Un’s health.
: The ROK Consulate General in Wuhan resumes full operations.
: ROK Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young and PRC counterpart Le Yucheng hold videoconference. ROK Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo and PRC counterpart Zhong Shan hold a videoconference.
: The China Tourism Office in Seoul and Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism organize an online exhibition.
: General Association of Koreans in China celebrate Kim Il Sung’s 108th birth anniversary.
: ASEAN+3 leaders adopt a joint statement on coronavirus cooperation.
: General Association of Koreans in China celebrate Kim Il Sung’s 108th birth anniversary.
: North Korea fires what appear to be cruise missiles and air-to-ground missiles into the East Sea on the eve of Kim Il Sung’s birthday anniversary and South Korea’s general elections.
: ASEAN+3 partners hold a Special Summit on COVID-19 Response via video.
: North Korea fires what appear to be two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.
: ROK foreign ministry calls in PRC Ambassador Xing Haiming for a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gunn after Beijing’s March 26 announcement on temporarily suspending the entry of foreigners.
: A Chinese military plane enters South Korea’s air defense identification zone.
: North Korea fires two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.
: PRC, ROK, and Japanese foreign ministers hold a videoconference.
: State media reports Chinese provincial donations for coronavirus relief.
: Foreign ministries of China, ROK, and Japan hold conference call on coronavirus cooperation.
: Seoul protests Beijing municipality’s March 15 decision to quarantine incoming travelers at designated facilities at their own expense.
: Xi sends a message of support to Moon.
: China and South Korea hold their first working-level video conference under a new inter-agency mechanism led by the foreign ministries.
: China Cultural Center in Seoul organizes online educational and cultural activities.
: WHO calls COVID-19 a pandemic, and identifies China and South Korea as countries with “significantly declining” cases.
: North Korea test-fires short-range projectiles into the East Sea.
: Moon declares “war” against the coronavirus.
: US Treasury Department sanctions two PRC nationals linked to a North Korean state-sponsored cyber group.
: North Korea fires what appears to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea. China’s foreign ministry calls for dialogue.
: ROK justice ministry indicates that 42 followers of the Daegu-based Christian sect Shincheonji are presumed to have entered the country from Wuhan over the last eight months.
: ROK education ministry announces a cooperation agreement with China to advise students against returning to school in each other’s countries.
: ROK foreign ministry announces that South Korea will provide about half its promised $5 million worth of aid to China.
: Foreign ministers Wang and Kang hold telephone talks.
: ROK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gunn and PRC Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming meet in Seoul.
: Chinese cities start tightening entry measures against South Korean and other foreign visitors.
: China’s foreign ministry expresses support for cooperation with South Korea and Japan on fighting the coronavirus.
: WHO indicates that, besides the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, South Korea has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases outside China.
: A UN Security Council report shows that China and Russia supplied 22,730 tons and 30,180 tons of refined oil respectively to North Korea in 2019.
: Hubei Party Secretary Ying Yong and ROK Consul General in Wuhan Kang Seung-seok meet.
: Xi and Moon hold telephone talks.
: PRC, ROK, and Japanese foreign ministers hold a trilateral videoconference on coronavirus cooperation.
: ROK foreign ministry sends a fourth round of relief supplies to Wuhan, and announces plans to send aid to other Chinese regions.
: Hubei Provincial Foreign Affairs Office Director Qin Yu welcomes new ROK Consul General in Wuhan Kang Seung-seok, who arrives with relief supplies.
: Kim Jong Un receives a congratulatory letter from the General Association of Koreans in China on the occasion of Kim Jong Il’s birth anniversary.
: Wang and Kang meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
: PRC State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a Reuters interview during the Munich Security Conference reiterates China’s position on the Korean Peninsula.
: Korea Customs Service announces it has detected illegal shipments of 730,000 masks worth $1.18 million, mostly by Chinese nationals, in a crackdown since February 6.
: ROK Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae announces planned support measures for Chinese students returning to local universities.
: South Korea’s third evacuation plane arrives in Seoul from Wuhan carrying ROK citizens and Chinese relatives.
: Rodong Sinmun praises Xi’s medical site visits in China’s efforts to fight the coronavirus.
: China’s Permanent Mission to the UN expresses concern over leak of a UN draft report on DPRK sanctions.
: A Red Cross report shows that North Korea has dispatched about 500 workers to the border with China to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.
: North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reports the WHO’s recommendation not to use “Wuhan” in naming the coronavirus.
: A draft UN report shows that North Korea exported about $370 million worth of coal last year in violation of UN sanctions, largely via illicit ship-to-ship transfers with China.
: China’s foreign ministry in an online daily briefing expresses appreciation for South Korean assistance to fight the coronavirus.
: Moon receives the credentials of PRC Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming.
: ROK Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Kim Gunn and Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming meet in Seoul.
: Ambassador Xing Haiming holds his first press conference at the PRC Embassy.
: An Asiana Airlines cargo flight leaves for Wuhan to deliver relief aid.
: ASEAN and dialogue partners hold a high-level meeting on RCEP in Bali.
: South Korea announces a temporary entry ban on foreigners who have recently been in Hubei, effective Feb. 4.
: South Korea’s second evacuation plane arrives in Seoul with nationals from Wuhan.
: Kim Song-nam, first vice director of the WPK, arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport.
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un has sent a letter of sympathy to Xi, and that North Korea has sent financial aid to the CCP.
: ROK Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young and PRC Ambassador Xing Haiming meet in Seoul.
: Korean evacuees from Wuhan arrive in Seoul. Asan and Jincheon residents remove protest signage. President Moon thanks them via Twitter.
: North Korea is reported to have closed all air and railway routes across borders with China, and suspended plans to remove South Korean-built facilities at the Mt. Kumgang resort.
: South Korea reports its first suspected human-to-human transmission case of coronavirus.
: A South Korean plane arrives in Wuhan to evacuate South Korean nationals.
: South and North Korea temporarily close their Kaesong liaison office due to coronavirus concerns. North Korea plans to close all foreign transportation routes according to South Korean media.
: Jeju government and justice ministry discuss a temporary suspension of a visa-free program for Chinese visitors.
: New PRC Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming arrives in Seoul.
: Asan and Jincheon residents protest South Korea’s decision to bring evacuees from Wuhan. Jeju residents urge the regional government to ban Chinese travelers under its visa-free program.
: ROK foreign ministry announces medical aid to China from two Korean civic groups and separate plans to send China $5 million in aid to fight the coronavirus.
: In his reply to President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory birthday letter, Moon expresses support for Beijing’s efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
: ROK foreign ministry issues a travel alert for all of China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
: Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Kang Kyung-wha hold telephone talks.
: North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reports strengthened measures against the coronavirus.
: KCDC designates China entirely as a “coronavirus watch” zone. ROK foreign ministry raises its travel advisory level for Wuhan and surrounding areas in Hubei province.
: Korean Air Lines is South Korea’s first airline to announce a planned suspension of flights to Wuhan.
: Foreign tour agencies report that North Korea has temporarily closed its borders with China.
: DPRK Embassy in Beijing hosts a Lunar New Year reception, attended by PRC Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui and other officials.
: Korea-China Air Quality Joint Research Team releases research findings that show ultrafine dust in Beijing and Seoul contain similar elements.
: KCDC reports the first confirmed coronavirus case in South Korea. China’s foreign ministry indicates that China has been working with South Korea, Japan, and Thailand to control the spread of the virus.
: A DPRK delegation including North Korea’s Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong and Ambassador to the UN Kim Song leave Beijing for Pyongyang.
: PRC and ROK officials attend the 19th Meeting of ASEAN+3 Tourism Ministers in Brunei.
: China and South Korea hold working-level defense talks in Seoul.
: Pak Kyong Il, vice-chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and chairman of the DPRK-China Friendship Association, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK Li Jinjun, and other officials attend a friendship film show in North Korea.
: President Trump during a signing ceremony for a phase-one trade deal with China acknowledges China for “helping us with North Korea.”
: People’s Republic of China foreign ministry responds to Moon’s New Year press conference.
: Pak Kyong Il, vice-chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and chairman of the DPRK-China Friendship Association, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK Li Jinjun, and other officials attend a friendship meeting in North Korea for Lunar New Year.
: The United States sanctions two DPRK entities including a China-based lodging facility for involvement in labor exports violating international sanctions.
: Moon discusses cooperation with China in his New Year’s press conference.
: The Korea Tourism Organization announces that about 3,500 Chinese students will travel to South Korea on winter field trips until early February.
: South Korea asks China to provide information on a new type of coronavirus.
: The Korean Centers for Disease Control begins reporting suspected cases of pneumonia-like illness spreading in China.
: South Korean activists protest Chinese actions against Hong Kong demonstrators.
: South Korean President Moon Jae-in in his New Year’s address expresses hopes for advancing China-ROK ties.
: South Korea seizes Chinese fishing boats for illegally fishing in its waters in the Yellow Sea.
: China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun expresses support for a China-Russia resolution aimed at easing sanctions on North Korea.
: After Kim declares plans to develop “new strategic weapons,” China urges the United States and North Korea to remain committed to peacefully resolving the nuclear issue.