Top economic policymakers of South Korea and China are meeting this week for regular cooperation talks held for the first time since May 2016 in further steps to normalize business and economic ties and move past the conflict over the installment of a U.S. antimissile system.

Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, will meet in Beijing on Friday.

The meeting is a follow-up of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s state-visit to China in December when the heads of the two nation agreed to normalize bilateral relations that have frayed following Seoul’s decision to host the U.S. anti-missile system Terminal high Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in 2016.

Kim and He plan to discuss measures on broadening cooperation in infrastructure development across the continent. Korea and China held bilateral economic talks 14 times since the regular meetings were upgraded to ministerial level in 1999. They did not have one over the last year or so amid the diplomatic row.

By Cho Si-young and Cho Jeehyun

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