[Liu Yang, Cao Siqi, Lin Xiaoyi, Xu Zihe, special correspondent of the Global Times to South Korea] Editor's note: Departing from the downtown area of Seoul at 7: 00 a.m., driving southeast along the expressway by bus, you won't get to Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea until nearly 12 noon. This ancient capital of Silla Dynasty is called "a museum without walls" by the outside world, and some people say that it is "Xi'an of South Korea". The 32nd informal meeting of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to be held here has become a "proud event" among the local population.

This month, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China announced that at the invitation of President of the Republic of Korea Li Keqiang, President Xi Jinping will travel to South Korea from October 30 to November 1 to attend the 32nd informal meeting of APEC leaders and make a state visit to South Korea, which makes "the President of China once again visits South Korea in 11 years" a focus news in the South Korean public opinion.

Welcome to Chinese tourists

The car first entered Qingzhou, in front of the eyes is not imagined as the big cities. Not only do there are no high-rise buildings on both sides of the road, even the buildings are few, but more is green, it looks very much like the island of Qingzhou. Every time the car goes to a big road, almost see the sign or flower hall of "APEC 2025 KOREA GYEONGJU" (APEC 2025 Korea Qingzhou) and the sign "Welcome to Gyeongju" (Welcome to Qingzhou) seems to tell visitors outside that there will be a big happening here.

"The APEC meeting is about to be held. It is a major event for Gyeongju. It is proud that Gyeongju can hold it." Outside the Pho Country Temple, one of the most famous historical monuments in Gyeongju, a dozen local South Korean tourists are sitting on the grass for a picnic, enjoying a comfortable weekend afternoon. The arrival and questioning of China reporters seemed a bit sudden, but it also opened the conversation box of one of the men. "Because the APEC meeting is about to be held and because the South Korean government's visa policy for China tourists has become more convenient, there are more foreign tourists, especially China tourists, and we welcome them very much. For Gyeongju, of course, the more tourists the better." He told a reporter from the Global Times.

The South Korean government decided to implement a temporary visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists from 29 September 2025 to 30 June next year. During this period, Chinese group tourists with more than three people were exempt from visa entry into South Korea and stayed for 15 days. The visa-free initiative by the South Korean government was considered to be a response to China's visa-free entry policy for South Korean citizens last November. The implementation of this visa-free policy allowed more and more South Korean young people to choose to go to Shanghai on the weekend, and more and more South Korean tourists to welcome Chinese hotspots such as Zhang's family.

"Now that the APEC meeting is approaching, there are more group reservations in our restaurant. I feel that because of the visa-free policy, there are also more Chinese tourists." In a Korean restaurant not far from Buddha Temple, the owner said that he was well aware of the importance of the APEC meeting. "The leaders of China and the United States will come then". However, regarding the topic of politics and international relations, the boss seems somewhat evasive.

According to the "Global Times" reporter observed, compared with Jiangsu Island, which has long been implemented visa-free for Chinese tourists, the Chinese faces of Jiangsu are not many, in the popular landscapes such as the Buddhist temple, the National Museum of Jiangsu, the number of western pores seems to be more than Chinese tourists, but the close ties between Jiangsu and China are not only reflected in the number of tourists, for example, in the archaeological cooperation is very much.

Lin Chengqing, director of Gyeongju National Institute of Cultural Heritage, told the Global Times reporter that the institute he is in charge of belongs to the National Heritage Office of Korea, which has signed a cooperation agreement with Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology of China to promote the exchange of cultural heritage research and investigation results between the two countries. Park Jiang-ho, chief of protocol propaganda of APEC Preparatory Support Group (Organizing Committee) in Gyeongju, also told the Global Times reporter that Gyeongju has established friendly sister city relations with many cities in China, and exchanges are very frequent, especially in Xi'an. The "sister city" relationship between the ancient cities of the two countries has been established for 31 years this year.

"Looking forward to opening a new chapter in China-ROK relations"

I met Xu Zhouxi outside the Gyeongju and Baibai International Convention Center, which is the main venue of the upcoming APEC meeting. When the "Global Times" reporter team arrived here, there was still a busy scene around the venue. In addition to some workers stepping up construction, there were also buses pulling South Korean staff into the venue. Xu Zhouxi is not a staff member, but a citizen of Ulsan City, South Korea, about an hour's drive from Gyeongju."The APEC meeting is about to be held in Gyeongju, and there is something I can't come by then, so I want to come here in advance to see the venue and feel the atmosphere of the APEC meeting." In an interview with a reporter from the Global Times, Xu Zhouxi said this.

Because of the construction, Qingzhou and White International Conference Center did not show their final appearance to the "Global Times" reporter, the situation can be seen at the moment is that the main building of the venue is large, the exterior is more glass structure, the wall on the side of the venue has a huge display, broadcasting two APEC conference promotional posters in blue and white as the bottom. The front door of the venue has a welcome logo, in addition to writing "GYEONGJU APEC 2025 KOREA", there is also a Korean phrase, meaning "the most perfect APEC conference, with the celebration of the city of Qingdao.

"Although South Korea is eager to run the APEC meeting well, it also has many worries, especially for South Korea-US relations. After the incident that Hyundai Motor Company's US factory was raided and US President Trump asked South Korea to invest $350 billion, it is worrying how Trump will treat South Korea at the APEC meeting." During an interview in South Korea, the Global Times reporter heard more than one Korean scholar express such concerns. Shortly after the vehicle entered Gyeongju along the expressway, there were photos of Lee Jae-myung's visit to the United States and Trump's meeting on the roadside display.

Huang Zaihao, president of Korea Institute of Global Strategic Cooperation and professor of Korea Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times reporter that because of the current situation of Korea-US relations, the APEC meeting in Gyeongju may become an "inflection point" event for China-South Korea relations.

He explained that during the Yinxiang government, there were some negative moves in China-Korea relations, Li in the Ming government after taking office, he himself repeatedly criticized the anti-China demonstrations in Seoul, believing that foreign speech and discriminatory remarks damage the country's national character, behind which is the problem of the South Korean people are affected by Yinxiang government's good sensitivity to China has decreased. and the United States in the tariff issue is very heavy pressure on South Korea, thus persecuting South Korea, in the future will make the South Korean people feel compared to the United States, China treats China's relations with South Korea's sincerity, will promote South Korean diplomacy to China's "re-discovery", promote China-Korea relations further enhanced.

"I know that Chinese President Xi Jinping will come to the APEC meeting, and I look forward to hearing his speech."Out of the meeting, Xu Zhihi's words and Huang Zhou'i's words do not coincide. she told the reporter of the Global Times that South Korea's diplomacy should be closer to China in addition to the United States Japan, and she is very looking forward to Xi Jinping's arrival to open a new chapter in China-Korea relations.

As a reporter from China's "Global Times", Xu Zhihi also told about his origins and China: "My husband's brother worked in China for a long time, because the company sent him to China for a job. During this time, I heard him a lot about China. The more I heard, the greater was the sense of goodwill for China. In addition, I saw a lot of Chinese movies when I was a child, and there was a sense of goodwill for China. Later, my family had relatives living in China, and I heard more and more news about China, and my sense of goodwill for China increased. In fact, I never went to China, if there was a chance, I really wanted to see."

"An exciting visit"

If only from the South Korean media, "the recent anti-Chinese demonstrations in Seoul and the strong opposition of Lee in Ming to this many times" is undoubtedly one of the "big news" of public opinion attention, it seems that the decline in popular sensitivity to China is one of the issues that Li in the Ming government urgently need to solve. but the "Global Times" reporter group this trip to Changzhou and Seoul, also felt the friendly attitude of the South Korean people to China, is it contradictory?

In an interview with a reporter from the Global Times, Yu Shougen, director of the Korea Institute of East Asia, admitted that there is currently a situation between China and South Korea where "officials express goodwill and there is noise among the people." In Yu Shougen's view, the current China-ROK relations are "a relationship that requires management and control where competition and cooperation coexist." The balanced diplomacy that Li Zee-ming's government is committed to coincides with the idea of "bird diplomacy" he advocates-birds can fly by balancing their wings. South Korea must also maintain a balance between the United States and Japan, as maritime powers, and China and Russia, as continental powers, before it can take off internationally. Yu Shougen believes that the current reason why some people in South Korea have a declining favorable impression of China is mainly due to past diplomatic disputes between China and South Korea, distorted media reports, and the rupture of connections and deepening of mutual misunderstandings caused by the epidemic.

"Those people in Seoul cannot represent South Korea. Their size is very small." A South Korean scholar said this when talking about the anti-China demonstrations in Seoul that Li Zai-ming strongly criticized. He also reminded the economic factors behind China-ROK relations. With the rise of China's economic strength, it has upgraded faster and faster in the industrial chain. In the past, China-ROK economic relations, the complementary pattern of combining South Korea's technology and capital with China's labor and land for production is undergoing drastic changes. The South Korean people need to adapt and the two countries need to explore new cooperation mechanisms. Because of this, many people in South Korea attach great importance to this APEC meeting and the visit of China leaders, and especially look forward to President Xi Jinping's state visit to South Korea to open a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

As the Global Times reporter wrote this report, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that President * would go to South Korea to attend the 32nd APEC Leaders' Informal Meeting and pay a state visit to South Korea. Many Korean media such as "Korean National News" and "Chosun Ilbo" mentioned that President Xi's last visit to South Korea was in 2014. "The Chinese President's visit to South Korea again after 11 years" immediately became the focus of Korean public opinion.

South Korean scholar Huang Zaihao told the Global Times reporter that he is very concerned about the fact that President Xi's visit to South Korea is a state visit, and he also expects the leaders of the two countries to build better mutual trust through this visit. South Korea and China have a free trade agreement A series of issues such as the second phase negotiations deserve attention, making President Xi's visit particularly worth looking forward to.

On the 13th of this month, the 2025 China-Korea Media Cooperation Forum, jointly sponsored by People's Daily and Korea Media Group, was held in Seoul, South Korea. Nearly a hundred media representatives, diplomatic envoys, experts, scholars and business people from China and South Korea had in-depth exchanges around the theme of "China-South Korea Cooperation for Intelligent Future", discussed the responsibilities and missions of the media of the two countries in the new era, promoted exchanges and cooperation in related fields, and helped deepen the strategic partnership between China and South Korea.

In his keynote speech, China's ambassador to South Korea, Dae Shui, suggested that South Korean media should stand higher, see further, get rid of "colored glasses", prevent "internal illness and external governance", and avoid "discrimination and exclusion". Dae Shui said that China and South Korea are important neighbors and partners, and the friendship between the two countries is far-reaching, and the real interests are deeply merged.

Things do seem to be changing, too. Also in October, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, which has always been regarded as a conservative media in the pro-American camp, published a number of editorials in succession, focusing on comparing the economic development of China and South Korea, analyzing the reasons for China's rapid development, and actively affirming the Communist Party of China (CPC) 's ability to govern the country and China's institutional advantages. This is not a common situation in the public opinion field where the conservative forces and progressive forces in South Korea are clearly divided.

About to leave Gyeongju by car and return to Seoul, reading comments from the South Korean media on the bus, a reporter from the Global Times accidentally saw a gray sculpture in the shape of a tile on the roadside, with the main image depicting a smiling face. The reporter asked his fellow Korean friends what the meaning of this smiling face was. The Korean friend reminded that this smiling face was used for the Gyeongju APEC meeting logo, which was the "Silla Smile."