President Jiang Zemin met with President Kim Dae-Jung of the Republic of Korea on the sideline of the 8th Informal Leadership Meeting of APEC at the hotel that he was staying on Nov. 15, 2000.


President Kim expressed pleasure of meeting with President Jiang in Brunei and briefed Jiang on the progress made by the two sides after the South-North Korean summit. President Kim said, the two sides have achieved remarkable results in easing tension and undertaking substantive exchanges and cooperation. He spoke highly of and expressed gratitude for the support of the Chinese government for the improvement and growth of relations on the Korean peninsula.


President Jiang Zemin said that the recent positive changes on the Korean peninsula are in the fundamental interests of the Korean nation and conducive to peace and stability of the peninsula as well as the whole region. Jiang noted that everything is difficult at the beginning. The two sides of the Korean peninsula have recently improved their relations and carried out exchanges toward their common goal of eventual peaceful reunification, which constitutes a very good beginning. He said that China supports and welcomes these changes.


Jiang went on to say that China's stance on the Korean issue has been consistent. China will, as always, maintain a positive attitude toward and support everything beneficial to peace and stability on the peninsula and continue to contribute to the peace process on the peninsula.


On the cooperation between China and ROK within APEC, Jiang said China attaches importance to the role of APEC and is ready to closely cooperate with other APEC members, including ROK, thus enabling the success of the current meeting. China is to host the APEC 2001 Informal Leadership Meeting and other related events. Jiang said that the relevant departments in China are making preparations. ROK has experience in hosting major international conferences and China is ready to learn from ROK.


Kim said that he looks forward to attending the 2001 APEC Informal Leadership Meeting in Shanghai and see with his own eyes the remarkable changes in Shanghai. He wishes the relevant conferences of APEC to be held in Beijing in 2001 a full success.


Kim also said that the two sides are making their utmost efforts to implement the agreements on stepping up bilateral friendly cooperation inked during Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to ROK not long ago.


Jiang said that the relations between China and ROK are gaining good momentum. Jiang noted that Premier Zhu's recent visit to ROK was successful and the two countries should make active efforts to further enhance their comprehensive cooperation.