(LEAD) S. Korea, China hold 2+2 diplomatic security talks amid Putin’s visit to N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea and China held "two plus two" talks of their senior foreign and defense officials Tuesday, a gathering that coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin's imminent visit to North Korea. The diplomatic security dialogue was headed by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong. Also attending the talks were Lee Seung-beom, director general for international policy at the defense ministry, and Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Office of International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission. Tuesday's talks came as Seoul is seeking to manage the relationship with Beijing stably at a time when the expanding cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has given rise to concerns it could help North Korea advance its military capabilities. The Kremlin and the North's state media announced late Monday that Putin will pay a state visit to North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday. "I believe there will be discussions about Russia-Nor th Korea cooperation, as the dialogue is taking place around the same time as Russian President Putin's planned visit to North Korea," foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a press briefing Tuesday. The talks also came as fresh inter-Korean tensions have flared up after the North flew hundreds of trash-carrying balloons across the border into the South. Seoul resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts toward the North in response. The foreign ministry said earlier that the two countries will discuss issues of mutual interest, from bilateral relations and the Korean Peninsula to regional and global situations. Observers say such high-level engagement between Seoul and Beijing suggests that China is giving weight to its diplomacy with South Korea, while keeping North Korea, its traditional ally, in check amid Pyongyang's closer alignment with Moscow. "Holding the dialogue itself gives North Korea the message that China won't go along with Pyongyang trying to build a three-way bloc with Beijing an d Moscow," Kang Jun-young, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said. South Korea is expected to use Tuesday's talks to again call for China's constructive role in addressing North Korean issues and highlight the need for continued communication between Seoul and Beijing for stability on the Korean Peninsula. The two sides could also discuss issues like China's strategic competition with the United States and the cross-strait relations. Holding the two plus two talks was part of the agreement reached between the two countries when President Yoon Suk Yeol met one-on-one with Chinese Premier Li Qiang for talks on the margins of the trilateral summit with Japan late last month. They agreed to elevate the dialogue format to the vice-ministerial level. The previous talks took place among the director generals in 2013 and 2015. Source: Yonhap News Agency