South’s leader will ask China to use influence on Peninsula

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak will this week ask China to use its influence and urge North Korea to show restraint amid a delicate transition to a new leadership in Pyongyang focused on projecting a militaristic image.

Lee will hold a summit with China’s president, Hu Jintao, in Beijing and will “discuss ways to develop the strategic partnership between the two nations and co-operative measures for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”, the South Korean president’s office said in a statement.

His three-day state trip to China, his second in four years, starts today.

The South has said its primary foreign policy goal this year is maintaining stability on the divided peninsula as its unpredictable neighbour embarks on a third generation of dynastic rule.

Both South Korea and the United States have urged China, the North’s main ally and benefactor, to help restrain the new leadership from staging any hostile acts.

South Korea’s ambassador to China, Lee Kyu-hyung, said last week that the South would continue to raise the issue of China’s unwillingness to condemn North Korea when it provokes the South.

In 2010, South Korea criticised China for refusing to censure North Korea for torpedoing a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors.

However, the North denied it sank the vessel.

“It is problematic because China has appeared to take an attitude of protection and support for North Korea,” the ambassador said.