President of Republic of Korea (ROK) Roh Moo-hyun Monday kicked off his trip to neighboring country China, hoping to strengthen amicable relations with the world largest population.

China is Roh Moo-hyun's third foreign country he traveled to in the four months after he inaugurated as the top leader of South Korea. He had made visits to the United States and Japan respectively in May and June.

The ROK-China relations have been developed smoothly since the two neighboring countries established diplomatic ties in 1992. Roh 's current visit will highlight bilateral exchanges which have been increased rapidly.

Trade volume between the two countries rocketed to 44.07 billion US dollars last year, eight times of that in 1992. In the first five months of this year, the figure reached a new high record of 22.7 billion dollars, rising 44.5 percent against the same period of 2002.

As of May, South Korea's exports to China reached 12.39 billion dollars, a 48.3 percent rise from the same period a year ago despite the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

China has replaced Japan, becoming South Korea's third largest export destination, while South Korea is the fifth largest export market of China.

South Korean enterprises have shown great interests in the China's huge market, which has already turned to be the largest target of South Korean investment. In the first quarter of 2003, South Korean corporations injected 310 million US dollars into the charmful market, uprushing 66 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, South Korean films and popular music have lots of fans in China, while South Korean students are keen to learn Chinese language.

Over 22,000 South Korean students are pursuing degrees in various Chinese universities and 3,000 Chinese young people are studying in South Korean colleges.

"It's seldom that only in a 10-year span, relations between the two countries can develop so widely, deeply and rapidly," President Roh Moo-hyun has said.

"I desperately want to meet Chinese leaders during my visit, to discuss economic and trade cooperation," Roh said, outlining agenda of his China trip.

Before his departure on Monday, the South Korean president also expressed his hope that China will continue playing its constructive role to persuade the parties in the nuclear issue of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to return to the negotiating table.

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