China, S. Korea agree to step up parliamentary exchanges

China and South Korea on Tuesday pledged to step up their parliamentary exchanges in a bid to facilitate the comprehensive development of bilateral ties.

The pledge was made during a meeting between visiting Chinese senior legislator Chen Zhili and Kang Chang-hee, speaker of the South Korean National Assembly.

Chen, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, also co-chaired the seventh meeting of regular exchanges between the NPC and the South Korean National Assembly with vice speaker of the South Korean parliament Lee Byung-suk.

Noting that parliamentary exchanges constitutes an important part in bilateral ties, Chen said the NPC is ready to further strengthen exchanges with the South Korean National Assembly and improve the regular exchange mechanism to develop closer bilateral ties.

Kang said his country highly values relations with China and is willing to work with China to carry out deeper exchanges and cooperation on a wider scope.

Lee said the South Korean parliament attaches importance to the institutionalized exchanges with China's top legislature and hopes to see the exchange mechanism continue to function and be improved constantly.

During the meeting, the two sides held in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations, the East Asia regional cooperation, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The NPC and the South Korean National Assembly launched the regular exchange scheme in January 2006.