ROK president's China visit restores relations for greater cooperation: consul general

The Republic of Korea (ROK) President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to China from Jan. 4 to 7 has led to the restoration of bilateral relations, which is significant as ROK companies are keen to expand cooperation with their Chinese peers, said ROK consul general in Shanghai.

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Lee in Beijing. After their talks, Xi and Lee witnessed the signing of 15 documents on cooperation between China and the ROK in fields including scientific and technological innovation, ecological environment, transportation, and economic and trade cooperation.

"The most important thing is to restore fully our two countries' relationship. The two countries' relations cooled down, it's true, but now, the leaders of the two countries, they agreed on the importance of annual meetings between two leaders. And also, they agreed to restore various strategic dialogue between the two countries. And the second one is also economic and cultural cooperation," said Kim Young Jun, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.

The second stop of Lee's state visit was Shanghai, which is part of the Yangtze River Delta in east China, one of China's most economically vibrant regions, where many ROK companies are operating.

"We have around 7,000 companies and the total accumulated investment in China in this region was around 35 billion U.S. dollars. Also, there are some other aspects. For example, in Yancheng [of east China's Jiangsu Province], there is a KIA automobiles (manufacturing plant). Three years ago, their production volume declined into 100,000 units a year, but last year, they produced 300,000 units. Especially nowadays, very recently, [as] China's industry is of high-level, many companies are very interested to make cooperation with Chinese companies," Kim said.

On Wednesday, Lee attended a China-ROK innovation and entrepreneurship forum in Shanghai.

Nearly 300 representatives from Chinese and ROK enterprises in fields such as intelligent manufacturing, new materials, artificial intelligence, healthcare, cultural creativity and consumption services attended the forum.

Addressing the event, Lee said he hopes for more frequent face-to-face exchanges of thinkings and lively discussions between innovative people of talent of the two countries.

ROK president's China visit restores relations for greater cooperation: consul general

The Chinese naval hospital ship, Silk Road Ark, carried out a medical rescue drill in Atlantic waters during its Mission Harmony 2025, testing its capability to provide medical support during long-distance deployments.

The drill marked the vessel's first overseas medical-support exercise in unfamiliar waters in 2026, designed to simulate real-world emergency response scenarios far from home ports.

It brought together the hospital ship, a sea-based medical facility and shipborne helicopters in a coordinated rescue operation.

The exercise was conducted against a simulated backdrop of a commercial vessel in distress on the high seas with multiple casualties. After receiving the emergency signals, a shipborne helicopter immediately took off under an aerial evacuation plan, transferring simulated injured personnel to the triage area for rapid assessment and emergency treatment.

As part of the exercise, medical teams practiced a time-sensitive rescue approach, combining casualty transfer, triage and treatment to ensure prompt and accurate assessment of injuries under operational conditions.

"We followed the principle of providing treatment while transferring and carrying out triage and rescuing, ensuring that casualties are correctly assessed at the earliest time possible. If a patient is in a critical condition, we must carry out necessary emergency treatment in the triage area. Once vital signs are relatively stable, the patient is then transferred to an appropriate treatment unit," said Jiang Yingbo, a member of the Mission Harmony 2025.

Severely injured patients were transferred to intensive care units for further observation and treatment after surgery. A medical expert group then conducted timely consultations to formulate targeted treatment plans.

Under complex sea conditions in distant waters, the drill covered multiple training modules including maritime evacuation, triage, emergency treatment and surgery, strengthening the military medical ship's integrated emergency medical response, and enhancing the navy's far-sea medical support capability, according to the authorities.

Chinese navy hospital ship drills medical rescue in Atlantic waters