South Korean President Lee Jae-myung snapped a selfie with Xi Jinping using a smartphone gifted to him by the Chinese leader, who had joked at their last meeting that the device might be capable of spying.
Lee posted a selfie of himself, Xi and their wives on social media platform X on Monday during a visit to Beijing.
“A selfie with President Xi Jinping and his wife, taken with the Xiaomi I received as a gift in Gyeongju,” Lee wrote.
“Thanks to them, I got the shot of a lifetime.
“I will communicate more frequently and collaborate more closely going forward.”
In the selfie, all four first families are seen smiling.
Lee’s office also posted a short YouTube video of the scene, with Xi complimenting the South Korean leader’s photo skills.
The Xiaomi handset made headlines in November when Xi cracked a joke to Lee on the sidelines of an Apec summit in South Korea.
When Lee asked if the communication line on the device was secure, the Chinese leader urged him to “check if there is a backdoor” – referring to pre-installed software that could allow third-party monitoring.
The banter was a rare display of humour from the Chinese leader, who is not often seen making jokes, let alone about espionage.
The South Korean President has said Xi was “unexpectedly quite good at making jokes”.
During their 90-minute summit on Monday, Xi urged Lee to join Beijing in making the “right strategic choices” in a world that is “becoming more complex and turbulent”.
Beijing and Seoul “bear important responsibilities” in upholding peace in the region, Xi said, noting that the sides “have broad common interests”.
The South Korean leader then said he wished to open a “new phase” in relations, “based on the trust” between himself and Xi.
And he vowed to “seek feasible alternatives together for peace on the Korean Peninsula”, footage broadcast by Yonhap showed.
The leaders witnessed the signing of “15 cooperation documents” spanning technological innovation, the environment, transportation and trade, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit the Chinese capital in six years and his meeting with Xi came a day after the nuclear-armed North fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
The South Korean President’s visit to China also followed a US military operation in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to face narco-trafficking charges – a raid condemned by Beijing and Pyongyang.
Lee’s selfie post sparked heavy interest online and was shared more than 3,400 times in the first few hours.
One user quipped: “Sir, do you know Nicolas Maduro used the same phone?”
The South Korean leader, who took office in June following the impeachment and removal of his predecessor over a martial law declaration, has sought to improve ties with China after a years-long diplomatic deep freeze.
Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor. — AFP
