Chronologies
China - Korea
Chronology from Jul 2002 to Oct 2002
: Chief of the General Staff of the PRC People’s Liberation Army Gen. Fu Zuanyou arrives in Seoul for a five-day bilateral exchange visit.
: Thirty-six asylum-seekers, including 15 who sought asylum at a German school and 21 who sought asylum at the South Korean consulate, arrive in Seoul.
: PRC Ambassador Li Bin delivers a $20,000 donation from the Chinese Red Cross to provide relief for Korean victims of Typhoon Rusa.
: Taegu District Public Prosecutors detain eight people on charges of smuggling 223,140 counterfeit Viagra tablets from China during a six-month period from February to August.
: Fifteen North Korean asylum-seekers take refuge at a German school. Negotiations ensue to determine whether the school qualifies as diplomatic property.
: Chinese security police ransack the home office of a Chosun Ilbo reporter for clues regarding South Korean NGOs that are assisting North Korean asylum-seekers.
: Opposition GNP presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang visits China and meets with top leaders including PRC President Jiang, who pledges to solve the North Korean defector issue from a “humanitarian perspective.”
: Two men are arrested at Incheon International Airport on charges of smuggling into Korea two kilograms of methamphetamine worth over $5 million.
: ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade opposes repatriation of seven North Korean defectors arrested for demonstrating in front of Chinese Foreign Ministry regarding their circumstances in China.
: ROK Vice Defense Minister Kwon Young-hyo visits China to discuss bilateral military cooperation and regional security.
: Incheon International Airport announces that China surpassed Japan as the destination with the most flights from Korea during the peak summer season.
: PRC President Jiang Zemin and ROK President Kim Dae-jung exchange congratulations on the 10th anniversary of the normalization of China-ROK relations.
: ROK National Fisheries Products Inspection Service announces that excess amounts of mercury were found in freshwater eels imported from China.
: Eleven North Korean refugees who had claimed asylum at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing over the previous month arrive in Seoul.
: PRC Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan visits Seoul for meetings with ROK Foreign Minister Choi, to discuss how to enhance bilateral ties. The PRC approves the ROK’s request to open a consular office in Shenyang.
: Korean Trade Commission Chairman Junn Sung-chull resigns to take responsibility for South Korean failures in negotiations over garlic imports.
: ASEAN Plus Three meeting in Brunei. On the sidelines, PRC, ROK and Japanese foreign ministers agree to meet annually and to expand economic and human exchanges.
: ROK Foreign Minister Choi-Sung-hong attends ASEAN Regional Forum meting in Brunei along with his Chinese and other East Asia counterparts.
: The ROK Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announces that it will invest 1.8 trillion won into the local garlic farming sector over the next five years following a firestorm of criticism that the Korean government failed to act transparently during garlic negotiations with China, under which South Korea will be open to Chinese garlic imports from Jan. 1, 2003.
: An eight-member delegation of the People’s Liberation Army led by Lt. Gen. Zhang Wengtai visits South Korea to discuss bilateral military exchanges.
: Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs Han Duck-soo and Vice Agriculture and Forestry Minister So Kyu-ryung resign to take responsibility for the government’s alleged concealment of an agreement with China to open the Korean market to Chinese garlic imports from Jan. 1, 2003.
: The Office of Government Policy Coordination announces that ethnic Koreans from China may be hired to work in the service industry.
: Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) signs a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Construction Bank to help it to dispose of bad loans.