South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit China next month for his third summit with President Xi Jinping to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and the North Korean nuclear threat.

The two leaders made the announcement after meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Danang, Vietnam on Saturday (local time).

Moon and Xi agreed on the need to manage the tensions in a stable manner and find a diplomatic way to solve the North Korean crisis. They also agreed to quickly normalize bilateral exchanges in all sectors, officially reaffirming their commitment last month to end the year-long standoff over the deployment of a U.S. antimissile system in Korea.

Korean businesses from retailers to automakers have been devastated by China’s boycott following the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which Beijing has vehemently opposed for security reasons.

Xi said the reset in Korea-China relations was off to “a good start,” with Moon responding that he expected their bilateral ties to tighten now that they have set aside their differences.

After the three-day APEC summit, Moon will head to the Philippines on Sunday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 summit, a forum including the 10 Southeast Asian member states and South Korea, Japan and China.

By Kang Gye-man and Kim Hyo-jin

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