It is said to have insisted on including Beijing’s opposition to the deployment of United States anti-missile defence system, Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence), in the statement.
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South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun has signed two modeling contracts in China despite the recent political tension caused by Seoul’s decision to deploy an advanced anti-missile defense system on its soil, his management agency said Monday. Lawmakers with South Korea’s opposition parties, including Rep. Son Hye-won, a lawmaker with the Minjoo Party of Korea, have used social media to encourage people to sign the petition against THAAD.
South Korea’s presidential office on Sunday called China “out of place” in blaming Seoul, and urged them to act in a strong manner against Pyongyang, Guancha.cn reported.
Beijing regards THAAD as a threat to its security interests, while Seoul and Washington insist it is a purely defensive measure aimed at deterring North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments.
China has reportedly stalled a United Nations Security Council statement condemning North Korea’s missile programmes after a recent projectile landed near Japan.
China is the sole major ally of the impoverished and isolated North, which relies heavily on food and oil imports from its neighbor.
On Wednesday, China’s People’s Daily said in an editorial, “It is impossible for South Korea’s leader not to know America’s strategic plot”.
Tension has been running high since the North staged its fourth nuclear test in January and a series of missile launches since then – most recently last Wednesday, August 3.
“No matter what the intention of these lawmakers is, their trip would eventually help strengthen the Chinese government’s stance and deepen division within South Korea”, it said.
“Some politicians are making ridiculous claims that the deployment of Thaad will only offer good excuses for North Korea to stage more provocations – an argument that is very similar to the North’s own views”, she said in comments published on her official website.
Concerns have grown particularly in the South’s vast entertainment industry about the possible loss of a key market for the pop music and dramas which have taken China by storm for the past decade.
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Lee, however, arrived in China on Saturday as scheduled.
