SEOUL, A Chinese party secretary of a key province bordering North Korea will visit South Korea later this week for discussions with Seoul's top diplomat, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Hao Peng, communist party secretary of the province of Liaoning, will hold a luncheon meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on Wednesday. His trip marks the first visit to Seoul by a Chinese provincial secretary since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The visit will make a significant contribution to expanding exchange and cooperation between South Korea and Liaoning Province, and in revitalizing local exchanges between the two," the ministry's spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, said during a regular press briefing. Observers say China's forcible repatriation of North Koreans could be among the topics to be discussed during Cho's meeting with Hao. According to local human rights groups, China forcibly repatriated around 600 North Korean defectors detained in the Liaoning and Jilin provinces to North Korea via border cities in October last year. Hao is also expected to meet with South Korean business leaders during his visit. Over 500 Korean companies are currently operating in Liaoning, one of three large provinces in the northeast bordering North Korea. Source: Yonhap News Agency