Seoul: South Korea hopes to see progress in talks with China on pending maritime issues in the Yellow Sea, including the demarcation of sea boundaries and steel structures set up by Beijing in the overlapping waters, a foreign ministry official said Tuesday. The comments came after the two Asian neighbors agreed to resume vice-ministerial talks on maritime demarcation within this year during summit talks between President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping the previous day.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the resumption of dialogue on the delimitation of sea boundaries ends a seven-year hiatus. In 2014, Seoul and Beijing had agreed to hold annual vice minister-level talks and regular working-level follow-up meetings, but the sensitivity of the issue caused delays. The last vice ministers' talks took place in 2019, four years after the previous round.

The ministry official emphasized that the vice-ministerial talks aim to inject momentum into the maritime boundary demarcation process. "The two sides share the view that the Yellow Sea should be a sea of peace and coexistence, rather than one of confrontation and conflict, and this holds significance for South Korea-China relations," the official said.