ROK leader's Shanghai visit honors past

Republic of Korea President Lee Jae-myung arrived on Tuesday afternoon in Shanghai for the second leg of his first China visit since taking office last year.

By including a commemorative event at a historical site in Shanghai on his itinerary, Lee's visit highlights Seoul's commitment to a pragmatic foreign policy based on regional stability and acknowledges the historical friendship between the two countries, experts said.

Premier Li Qiang and top legislator Zhao Leji held separate meetings with Lee on Tuesday in Beijing before he headed to Shanghai.

During his two-day stay in the metropolis, Lee is scheduled to attend a venture and startup summit to interact with young entrepreneurs in fields such as content, healthcare, infrastructure and energy. He will also visit the site in Shanghai's Huangpu district of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, which was established during Japan's colonial rule, and attend a commemorative event there. From 1910 to 1945, the Korean Peninsula was under Japan's colonization.

When President Xi Jinping met with Lee on Monday, both leaders mentioned the shared history of the two neighbors fighting side by side against Japanese aggression. Lee also expressed gratitude for China's efforts to preserve the site.

According to Lakhvinder Singh, director of peace and security studies at the Asia Institute, a think tank in the ROK, Lee's visit to China underscores Seoul's commitment to a pragmatic, interest-based foreign policy anchored in regional stability.

Li Ning, an assistant research fellow at the Center for Northeast Asian Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said that Shanghai has long honored the historical friendship between the two countries. Shanghai has also become one of the most popular destinations for ROK nationals traveling to China for tourism, study or business, thanks to its modern infrastructure, well-established expatriate community and inclusive environment.

Since China began offering visa-free travel to ROK citizens in 2024, the number of visitors has surged, and Shanghai has become one of the top destinations. The Yangtze River Delta, which includes the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, as well as Shanghai, accounts for about 40 percent of the ROK's trade with China. Shanghai alone contributes around 10 percent, and around 3,000 enterprises from the ROK are based in the city, according to local statistics.

As two influential Asian metropolises, Shanghai and Seoul share similarities in urban development, green transition and aging populations, offering broad opportunities for mutual learning and cooperation, the research fellow said.

Shanghai should serve as a bridgehead for China-ROK cooperation in science and technology, as well as in digital creative industries, Li Ning said, adding that the two sides are also expected to strengthen institutional mechanisms to expand people-to-people exchanges and deepen youth and educational cooperation.

Baek Seo-hui, 26, a graduate student from the ROK at Fudan University's School of International Relations and Public Affairs, said: "I have been studying and living in Shanghai for eight years. What I most look forward to in the future is being able to stay in China."