With the elections of Park Geun-hye and Xi Jinping, Sino-South Korea relations are at a high point.

Meanwhile Kim Jong Un’s securing of power through the execution of his uncle has led to greater distance between China and North Korea, Victor Cha, director for Georgetown University’s National Resource Center for Asian Studies, points out.

“This is an opportunity for South Korea to make China value its equities in the South as much as in the North,” he told NK News.

Cha, who also was the Deputy Head of Delegation for the U.S. at the Six Party Talks in Beijing,