On behalf of his government, South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young hailed China's role in the Korean Peninsula issue when meeting with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming. 

"Our government highly appraises the Chinese government's efforts and expects it to continue to cooperate going forward," Lee said at the meeting, while acknowledging that relationship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has retained "a stalemate for quite a long time."

The inter-Korean relationship has soured following the collapse of the denuclearization negotiations between DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. Most recently, Pyongyang blew up the the inter-Korean liaison office near its southern border after recognizing anti-DPRK propaganda leaflets across the border and even threatened to map out "military action plans" to counter its neighbor, despite ROK vowed to punish the defector groups.

Xing reiterated Beijing's position, calling for peaceful reunification on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue.

He also vowed support to continuous efforts on pushing for communication between U.S. and the DPRK.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, is expected to visit Busan of South Korea later this week for talks with the country's national security adviser, announced China's Foreign Ministry.