The Chinese defence minister, Chi Haotian, is in South Korea for the first such visit since the two countries confronted each other on the battlefield during the Korean War fifty years ago.

Mr Chi is to have talks with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Sung-Tae, and with President Kim Dae-Jung.

Mr Cho went to Beijing last year, and correspondents say this visit is crucial to cement relations between the former enemies, who established diplomatic relations in 1992.

Since then, economic ties between them have expanded dramatically, and they are now major trading partners.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service