South Korea, China hold talks amid missile test

South Korea and China held talks in Seoul on Wednesday amid concerns over North Korea's recent missile test and stopped discussion between Pyongyang and Washington.

The meeting came days after North Korea said it successfully tested a new long-range cruise missile last weekend, which analysts say could be the country's first such weapon with nuclear capability. The test underscored steady progress in Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile program amid a deadlock over talks that aim at lifting the North's weapons programmes in return for U.S. sanctions relief.

Seoul's Chung Eui-yong met Wang Yi, who is also a state councillor, on the second day of a two-day visit, said the South Korea foreign ministry.

Chung vowed to continue to promote peace with the North and expressed hopes that the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing would give a chance to spark this effort.

Wang expects to continue to support our government's peace process in the Korean peninsula, he told China at the start of the talks.

We wish that the Northeast Asia relay of the Olympics, from Pyeongchang in 2018 to Beijing in 2021 to Tokyo in 2022, will be held successfully as an epidemic-free, safe and peaceful Games. Wang asked for further cooperation to strengthen common interests and more rapidly, stably and fully expand diplomatic ties that will mark their 30th anniversary next year.

Both sides held a separate meeting to map out steps to boost cultural exchanges, which have been scaled down in recent years amid China's backlash over a U.S. missile defence system in South Korea.

Seoul and Washington say the equipment is designed to detonate north Korean missiles but Beijing says the system's powerful radar can penetrate into its territory.

On Tuesday, the chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the United States and Japan met in Tokyo, during which they agreed on the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy to resume denuclearisation talks, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry. The U.S. envoy said during the meeting that Washington has no hostile intent towards Pyongyang and hope it will respond to offers for talks.

China, the sole ally in North Korea, has played a key role in efforts to press it to dismantle its nuclear programs.