S. Korea leader to attend China’s celebrations of WWII end

China and South Korea already have strong trade ties, and Seoul wants Beijing to exercise its considerable leverage over Pyongyang to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. But Kim eventually didn’t go and sent his parliament head to the event that marked the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, said during a press briefing that Park will visit China for three days from September 2 to attend the celebratory event set to be held in Beijing on September 3, Xinhua reported.

South Korea in May expressed regret at Japan’s move and said then that the ban on some Japanese seafood was necessary and reflected safety concerns.

The announcement of Park’s visit came at a time of rife speculation that US officials have been pressuring Park not to attend the WWII commemoration in Beijing.

South Korea awarded a $73 million contract earlier this month to the consortium led by China’s state-owned Shanghai Salvage Co.to raise the ferry Sewol.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a statement last week marking the 70th anniversary of the country’s surrender in the war.

But Seoul and Beijing have steadily improved ties since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992.

Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula and occupied parts of China before and during World War II.

Zhang Liangui, a Korean studies expert at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, observed that ruling and opposition parties in South Korea “have come to a rare consensus” over Park’s China trip as they believe it will serve national interests. “It’s a very good decision”, Zhang said.

Japan launched a trade complaint at the WTO in May, saying the South Korean measures violated a WTO agreement and that Seoul had failed to justify the measures as required.