00:00South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to play a mediating role,
00:06as Seoul seeks to improve relations with the North.
00:09Speaking at the end of a four-day state visit to China,
00:12Lee proposed a freeze in Pyongyang's nuclear program in exchange for some form of compensation.
00:19Lee met with Xi on Monday, a day after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
00:26Lee said he asked Beijing to help bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table,
00:31to restart talks over its nuclear program, saying all of Seoul's channels were completely blocked.
00:37He said the long-term goal was to achieve a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
00:41In response, Xi urged Seoul to show patience with Pyongyang,
00:45citing how severely ties between the two Koreas have deteriorated.
00:48Lee's predecessor, Yoon Sook-yul, had been ousted last year after a failed bid to suspend civilian rule,
00:54amid rising tensions with the North, deepening mistrust within the peninsula.
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