Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Han Duck-soo attended a grand performance in Beijing on Monday evening, marking the closing of the China-ROK Exchange Year, a year-long bilateral cultural program.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Han Duck-soo attend a grand performance in Beijing on Monday evening, marking the closing of the China-ROK Exchange Year, a year-long bilateral cultural program.  

Young artists from the two countries, including renowned dancers, child singers and disabled performers, presented a fantastic show to the two leaders along with an audience of over a 1,000 people. 

Addressing the occasion, Premier Wen said that over 100 activities were held under the framework of the China-ROK Exchange Year, evoking warm acclamations and positive responses from the public and boosting mutual understanding and win-win cooperation between both countries.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday addresses the closing ceremony of the China-ROK Exchange Year, a year-long bilateral cultural program.

Considering youth as the future of a nation and as a fresh force to inherit China-ROK friendship, Wen called on youth of the two countries to have more idea exchanges in order to begin cultivating trust and friendship from childhood onward.

Hailing the remarkable progress of bilateral ties in the past 15 years, Han Duck-soo said that the ROK would join hands with China to step up bilateral all-round cooperative ties and strive for a better future for northeast Asia.

He believed that the China-ROK Exchange Year had cemented traditional friendship between the two peoples and laid a sound foundation for future bilateral cooperation.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of China-ROK diplomatic ties as well as the Year of China-ROK Exchange.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)