According to Yonhap News,

(BEIJING=Yonhap News) President Park Geun-hye and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang agreed Wednesday to step up efforts to boost benefits of a free trade agreement, Cheong Wa Dae said.

South Korea and China signed a free trade agreement in June, though the deal has yet to be ratified by the respective legislatures of Seoul and Beijing.

Park asked Li to simplify Chinese procedures in importing kimchi, a Korean side dish made with fermented cabbage, and rice, the presidential office said.

Li told Park that China will try to address the issue as he shared the need to make efforts to boost the benefits of the free trade agreement.

The meeting came after Park held summit talks with her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Park also proposed that South Korea and China co-produce animations and television dramas as part of cultural cooperation between the two neighbors.

Li said China will consider ways to cooperate with South Korea by setting up a channel of relevant organizations.

South Korean pop culture has gained wide popularity in China and Southeast Asian countries in recent years.

Meanwhile, South Korea and China signed dozens of memorandums of understanding, which call for cooperation, among other things, in the cultural and health care sectors.

South Korea's venture Investment Corp. and an affiliate of a Chinese state-run bank agreed to set up a fund worth 200 billion won (US$169 million) for investment in cultural contents and software, Cheong Wa Dae said.

South Korea is pushing to make inroads into the Chinese health care sector, a market that grows 18 percent annually.

South Korea also hopes to secure a foothold in telemedicine in China. Telemedicine is designed to improve access to quality care for those in medically deprived areas by using information technology, mostly the Internet.

Separately, Li said China will seriously review Park's proposals on creating a Northeast Asia Development Bank meant to develop North Korea's infrastructure.

Park said the proposed bank and the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) could be complementary as a Northeast Asia Development Bank would specialize in development in China's northeast areas and Russia's Far East.

South Korea has joined the AIIB as one of its founding members. The AIIB, which aims to fund infrastructure projects in Asia, is widely viewed as a potential counterbalance to U.S.-led multilateral lenders, such as the Asian Development Bank.

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