◀ anchor ▶
[노태우 전 대통령(지난 1992년)]
“I am confident that the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two Koreas will greatly help in resolving the issues facing the two Koreas and developing relations, and furthermore, peaceful unification and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”
Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China.
After unlocking the locks from each other, not only economic cooperation, but also human and cultural exchanges have been continued.
However, active trade with China is stagnating, and the number of exchanges, which was close to 14 million in 2019, plummeted to 3 percent last year.
Here, anti-Chinese and anti-Korean sentiment towards each other is getting stronger, especially among young people.
Today’s news desk will take a look at the changes in Korea-China relations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and China.
Correspondent Cho Hee-hyeong from Beijing covered the story.
◀ Report ▶
Shunyi District, north of Beijing.
In 2002, Hyundai Motors joined hands with Beijing Motors to establish the first production plant in China.
Hyundai Motor’s plant 1 stopped operating three years ago.
Behind me, only traces remain of the place where the Hyundai signboard was in the past.
All front doors are blocked by barriers.
It looks like discarded materials are piled up inside the site.
Hyundai Motor once built three factories in Beijing alone, producing 1 million units in China, but now the factories have been sold to a Chinese electric vehicle company.
Hangul signboards in Korean restaurants overflowing the streets as Hyundai Motor and its suppliers left are now difficult to find.
[롼 씨/한국 슈퍼 운영]
“There are only a few Korean customers. (Most of them are Chinese?) Yes.”
[송금화/한식당 운영]
“(Hyundai Motors disappears) It has a lot of influence. The number of customers is also dropping… I used to call it Sarang (Korean restaurant) in the West for a few years, but I quit last year. I went to Korea.”
I went to Wangjing, a Koreatown in Beijing where Koreans live.
Korean restaurants are gathered here, so the name of the building itself is ‘Korean Castle’.
On the first floor, the original Korean bakery disappeared and now a Chinese restaurant has entered the place.
[셰 씨/베이징 주민]
“(Korean bakery) disappeared a few years ago. A lot of Koreans went home because of Corona.”
A nearby hotel operated by a Korean company has been handed over to a famous overseas hotel chain.
The underground shopping mall, once famous for ‘Korea Fashion’, is empty without customers.
[한국 옷가게 운영]
“(Korean stuff) acknowledged that the quality is very good. As THAAD exploded, Korea started to be sensitive about this.”
The number of Koreans living in China peaked at 510,000 in 2007, but fell by half to 250,000 last year.
There are less than 30,000 left in Beijing.
[이승재/베이징 교민]
“(In the past) I heard a lot of Korean while going on the street. It’s not easy to see that kind of thing these days.”
The trade balance with China, which has been in a surplus since the establishment of diplomatic ties, has been in the red for four months in a row since May.
In the Chinese import market, South Korea has ranked first in market share for seven consecutive years since 2013, but has lost its place in 2020.
Samsung’s smartphone market share, which was once close to 20%, has plummeted to 0% from 2018, and Hyundai and Kia’s share has also sank from 10% to 1%.
Video coverage: Farewell (Beijing) / Video editing: Farewell (Beijing), Yurim Oh
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