On April 11, 2009, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Pattaya, Thailand.

Wen said that China and South Korea hold identical interest in promoting the regional stability, cooperation and development. The bilateral friendly and cooperative relations grow steadily. The international financial crisis continues to deepen and spread, exerting a heavy impact on the Asian countries including China and South Korea. The two countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all fields, push forward the bilateral strategic partnership constantly and tide over difficulties together. First, the two sides should strive to maintain the balanced growth of bilateral trade, prevent it from dropping sharply and jointly oppose trade and investment protectionism; second, efforts should be made to reinforce the financial cooperation, implement the bilateral currency swap agreement, advance the process of Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation and scale up the foreign exchange pool; third, both sides should strengthen cooperation within the framework of G20, promote the reform of the international financial and monetary system jointly and increase the representation and voice of the developing countries and emerging economies.

Lee noted that South Korea and China enjoy sound relations, close high-level exchanges and increasing political mutual trust. The financial crisis poses common challenges both to South Korea and China. The South Korean side highly appreciates the decisive and effective measures China has taken to cope with the crisis. The sustained development of the Chinese economy is very important to South Korea and the world at large. The bilateral currency swap arrangement between South Korea and China is beneficial to maintaining the financial stability of South Korea. The South Korean side is ready to make concerted efforts with China to strengthen trade and economic cooperation, keep communications and coordination on the reform of the international financial system and tackle the challenges of the financial crisis.