On August 13, 2003, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing held talks with his ROK counterpart Yoon Young-kwan on bilateral relations and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear issue.

Li said that with joint efforts of both sides, the China-ROK ties have developed rapidly and exchanges in the fields of politics, economy, science and technology as well as culture have registered satisfactory achievements. He added that the two countries also have communications and cooperation in dealing with international and regional affairs. The Chinese side appreciates the importance the ROK attaches to developing relations with China. Li said that during his visit to China last month, ROK President Roh Moo-hyun decided with President Hu Jintao to elevate China-ROK ties to all-around cooperation and friendship, which pointed out the direction the bilateral relations should head in. Li said that China is willing to make joint efforts with ROK to fulfill the common understanding reached by the two top leaders and to enrich and deepen bilateral all-around cooperation, so as to bring about concrete benefits to both peoples. The ROK Foreign Minister agreed with Li's remarks on bilateral relations, saying that China and ROK have broad common interests in many aspects. And since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, bilateral ties have developed rapidly and gained win-win results. He noted that the ROK is willing to enhance visits by senior officials of the two countries and increase comprehensive exchanges and will actively push Sino-ROK all-around cooperation and friendship for further development.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on the envisioned Beijing six-country talks aiming to solve the DPRK nuclear issue. Li Zhaoxing informed Yoon on the preparations of the talks and the coordination between China and other countries involved. He noted that as host of the multilateral talks, China will try hard to make the meeting a success. Li also said that the six-party talks are the continuance of the April tripartite nuclear talks, which shows the dialogue over the nuclear issue is going forward. Li also pointed out the progress of the multilateral talks will affect the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, so China hopes all the parties involved in the talks attend the meeting with sincerity, and hopes ROK will play an active role. Yoon said that the ROK highly evaluates the multilateral talks, and expressed his thanks to China for what it has done to secure the meeting. He noted that ROK is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Beijing, make joint efforts and overcome difficulties, thus to push the dialogue forward. The two diplomats agreed that the six-party talks should discuss the issues of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and solving the security concern of the DPRK, to make contribution to the permanent peace in the region.