GT investigates: Ahead of APEC South Korea 2025 in Gyeongju, listening to local perspectives on China

BEIJING, Oct. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Setting off from downtown Seoul at 7 am and driving southeast along the highway, Global Times reporters did not reach Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province until nearly noon. The ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom (57BC - 935AD) has been called a "museum without walls," and some have called it "the Xi'an of South Korea." It will host the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting at the end of this month, an event locals say is "something to be proud of."

At the invitation of President Lee Jae-myung of the Republic of Korea (ROK), Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju and pay a state visit to South Korea from October 30 to November 1, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday. This makes the Chinese president's visit to South Korea after 11 years the focus of local public discussion. What is Gyeongju like, and how do its residents view China? Before the visit was officially announced, Global Times reporters visited the "old capital of Silla."

'Welcome Chinese tourists'

As the vehicle first entered Gyeongju, the scene was nothing like the big city Global Times reporters had imagined. There were few buildings, let alone any skyscrapers; instead, abundant greenery and the scent of rice paddies made it resemble Jeju Island. At nearly every major intersection the reporters passed, signs and flowerbeds read "APEC 2025 KOREA GYEONG JU," accompanied by banners saying "Welcome to Gyeongju," as if announcing to visitors from afar that something big is about to happen.

Outside Bulguksa Temple, one of Gyeongju's best-known historic sites, more than a dozen locals sat on the grass, having a picnic and enjoying a leisurely weekend afternoon. "APEC is about to be held — it's a big event for Gyeongju, and something we can be proud of," one local said. The arrival and questioning of Chinese reporters seemed a bit sudden, but it prompted one of the locals to speak. "Because APEC is coming and the South Korean government has provided Chinese tourists with visa facilitation, foreign visitors — especially Chinese — have increased. We very much welcome them; for Gyeongju, the more tourists the better," he told the Global Times.

The "visa facilitation" the South Korean local was referring to is the South Korean government's decision to implement a temporary visa-free entry policy for Chinese group tourists from September 29, 2025, to June 30, 2026. During this period, Chinese groups of three or more tourists can enter South Korea visa-free and stay for 15 days. It is widely seen as a response to China's visa-free entry policy for South Korean citizens implemented in November 2024. The policy has led more and more young South Koreans to spend weekends in Shanghai, and popular Chinese attractions such as Zhangjiajie have received increasing numbers of South Korean visitors. Meanwhile, on the streets of Myeongdong in Seoul, Global Times reporters also saw Chinese characters on a roadside electronic display reading "China National Day holidays — Welcome to South Korea."

"With APEC coming up, our restaurant has had more group bookings, and I think that we're seeing an increase in Chinese tourists because of the visa‑free policy," said the owner at a Korean restaurant near Bulguksa Temple. He said he was well aware of APEC's importance — "Leaders from China and the US will be coming" — but was somewhat evasive about politics and international relations.

The Global Times found that compared with Jeju Island — which long ago introduced visa-free entry for Chinese tourists — Gyeongju cannot be said to have many Chinese visitors. At popular sites like Bulguksa Temple and the National Gyeongju Museum, visitors from Western countries still seem to outnumber those from China. But Gyeongju's close ties with China are not reflected only in visitor numbers; especially in archaeology, the two countries cooperate extensively, the Global Times found.

Lim Seng-kyeong, director of the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, told the Global Times that the institute is under South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration and has signed a cooperation agreement with the Shaanxi Archaeology Museum of China to promote exchanges in cultural heritage research and survey findings. Park Jang-ho, director of protocol and public relations of APEC preparation office in Gyeongju, also told the Global Times that Gyeongju has friendly sister‑city ties with several Chinese cities and that exchanges are very frequent, especially with Xi'an — this year marks the 31st anniversary of the sister‑city relationship between the two historic cities.

'Looking forward to a new chapter in China-South Korea relations'

Global Times reporters met Seo Joo-hee at the Gyeongju Hwabaek International Convention Center, the main venue for the upcoming APEC meeting. When reporters arrived, the area around the venue was still bustling: Workers were rushing to finish construction, and buses were bringing staff to the site. Seo is not a staff member, but a citizen from Ulsan city, which is about an hour's drive from Gyeongju. She told the Global Times that "Gyeongju is about to host the APEC meeting. I might not be able to come later because of some things, so I wanted to come early to see the venue and feel the APEC atmosphere."

Because it is still under construction, the Gyeongju Hwabaek International Convention Center's final appearance was not yet clear to Global Times reporters. What we saw is that the main building is very large, with a largely glass exterior; the venue's side walls have huge display screens that alternate between two APEC promotional posters — one with a blue background and one with a white background. At the main entrance, a welcome sign reading "GYEONG JU APEC 2025 KOREA" also bears a Korean phrase that roughly translates as "the most perfect APEC, together with Gyeongju City, North Gyeongsang Province."

"Although South Korea wants the APEC meeting to go well, there are many worries, especially about South Korea-US relations. After incidents such as the US immigration raid on a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia and US President Donald Trump's demand that South Korea invest $350 billion in the US, people are anxious about how Trump would treat South Korea at APEC" — Global Times reporters heard more than one South Korean scholar express such concern during interviews. Shortly after the vehicle entered Gyeongju along the highway, Global Times reporters saw a roadside screen displaying a photo of Lee's visit to the US and his meeting with Trump.

Hwang Jae-ho, director of the Global Security Cooperation Center at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told the Global Times that precisely because of the current situation in South Korea-US relations, the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju may become a "turning-point" event for China-South Korea relations.

He explained that under the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration, there were some negative developments in China-South Korea relations. Since the Lee government took office, Lee has repeatedly criticized anti-China protests in Seoul, saying that xenophobic and discriminatory rhetoric damages South Korea's national image. Behind this, Hwang noted, is a decline in South Korean public's favorability toward China, partly influenced by the Yoon government. "At the same time, the US has been pressuring South Korea hard on tariffs," Hwang said. Such pressure, he added, may lead the South Korean public to view China as more sincere in handling bilateral relations than the US, which could prompt a "rediscovery" of China in Seoul's foreign policy and help elevate China-South Korea relations.

"I know that President Xi will attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and I'm really looking forward to hearing his speech," said Seo outside the conference venue, echoing Hwang's view. She told the Global Times that in addition to the US and Japan, South Korea's foreign policy should be closer to China. She said she was very much looking forward to President Xi's visit opening a new chapter in China-South Korea relations.

After learning the reporters were from the Global Times, Seo also shared her personal connection with China." My husband's older brother worked in China for a long time because his company sent him there. During that time, I heard a lot about China from him. The more I heard, the more naturally favorable I became toward China. I also watched many Chinese movies when I was a child and have always had a good impression of China. Later, some relatives moved to China, and as I heard more and more news about China, my favorability toward China increased even more. Actually, I have never been to China and if there is an opportunity, I would really like to go and see it."

'An anticipated visit'

If one reads only South Korean media, "the recent anti-China demonstrations in Seoul and Lee's repeated strong opposition to them" would appear to be among the major news stories attracting public attention. This gives the impression that a decline in South Korean public favorability toward China is an urgent problem the Lee administration must address. However, during on-the-ground interviews in Gyeongju and Seoul, Global Times reporters felt the friendly attitude of the South Korean people toward China. Is this contradictory?  

In an interview with the Global Times, Woo Su-keun, head of the Institute of East Asian Studies of Korea and president of the Korea-China Global Association, said that there is currently a situation of "official gestures of goodwill amid some public noise" between China and South Korea. He described the current China-South Korea relationship as "a coexistence of competition and cooperation that needs to be managed." The balanced diplomacy the Lee government seeks aligns with his proposed "bird diplomacy" - just as a bird can fly only by balancing its two wings, South Korea must maintain a balance between the US and Japan, which are maritime powers, and China and Russia, which are continental powers, in order to thrive internationally. He added that the main reasons for the recent decline in the favorability of some South Korean people toward China are previous diplomatic disputes between the two countries, distorted media reports, and a breakdown in ties and deepening of mutual misunderstandings during the global pandemic.

"Those people demonstrating in Seoul do not represent the whole of South Korea. Their numbers are very small," said a South Korean scholar when talking about the anti-China demonstrations in Seoul that Lee had severely criticized. He also pointed to the economic factors underpinning the China-South Korea relationship. With China's growing economic strength and the increasingly rapid upgrading of its industrial chain, the previous complementary pattern of combining South Korea's technology and capital with China's labor and land for production in the economic relationship between China and South Korea is undergoing drastic changes. South Koreans need to adapt, and the two countries must explore new cooperation mechanisms. For this reason, many in South Korea are attaching great importance to the APEC meeting and the visit by the Chinese leader, particularly hoping that President Xi's state visit will open a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Just as Global Times reporters were compiling this report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that President Xi will be attending the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and paying a state visit to South Korea. Several South Korean media outlets, including the Hankyoreh and Chosun Ilbo, have mentioned that President Xi's last visit to South Korea was in 2014, and "the Chinese president's visit to South Korea after 11 years" immediately became the focus of attention in the South Korean public opinion field.

Hwang told the Global Times that he is paying great attention to President Xi' state visit to South Korea, and at the same time looking forward to the two leaders establishing better mutual trust through this visit. There are a series of issues worthy of attention between China and South Korea, including the second phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two countries, which makes President Xi's visit particularly anticipated, he said.

On October 13, the 2025 China-South Korea Media Cooperation Forum, jointly hosted by the People's Daily and South Korea's Maekyung Media Group, convened in Seoul. Nearly a hundred media representatives, diplomats, experts, scholars, and business people from China and South Korea engaged in in-depth exchanges under the theme "China-South Korea Cooperation for an Intelligent Future." They discussed the responsibilities and missions of the media in the new era, promoted exchanges and cooperation in related fields, and contributed to deepening the strategic cooperative partnership between China and South Korea.

In his keynote speech, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing suggested that South Korean media outlets adopt a broader perspective, see further, cast aside "tinted glasses," refrain from "seeking external solutions for domestic problems," and avoid discrimination and exclusion." He stated that China and South Korea are important neighbors and partners to each other, with a long history of friendly exchanges and deeply integrated practical interests. He emphasized that strengthening friendly cooperation remains the wisest choice that serves the fundamental interests of both nations and their people, regardless of the past, present, or future. Ambassador Dai also noted, "I have observed that recently, several Korean media outlets have published articles calling for keeping Chinese factors out of inter-party disputes."   

Indeed, things seem to be changing. In October this year, the Chosun Ilbo, long regarded as a conservative, pro-US media outlet in South Korea, published several editorials that examined and compared the economic development of China and South Korea, analyzed the reasons behind China's rapid growth, and affirmed the governance capabilities of the Communist Party of China and China's institutional strengths. Such coverage is uncommon in South Korea's public discourse, where the divide between conservative and progressive forces is pronounced.

While reading South Korean media commentaries on the way back to Seoul from  Gyeongju, Global Times reporters happened to see a grey roadside sculpture shaped like a roof tile and featuring a smiling face. One reporter asked a South Korean companion what the smiling face meant. The companion explained that this image has been incorporated into the official logo for the upcoming APEC meeting in Gyeongju, known as the "Smile of Silla."

SOURCE Global Times