STORY: South Korea's new president presented Chinese leader Xi Jinping with "the finest" wooden board for ancient strategy game Go during a state visit on Saturday (November 1), days after he gave U.S. President Donald Trump a gold crown at a summit meeting.

Xi sat down for his first summit with recently-elected Lee Jae Myung on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the historic South Korean city of Gyeongju.

In a lighthearted exchange seen from video released by South Korea’s Presidential Office, both leaders showed each other the gifts they prepared, include a moment when Lee asked Xi about the "communication security" upon seeing the Xiaomi phones, which Xi replied in a rare display of humour from a Chinese leader "you can check if there’s a backdoor", using the term that refers to a hidden method of bypassing security control in software or hardware. Xi also gifted Lee a Chinese calligraphy set ‘wen fang si bao’.

The video showed Lee presenting Xi with a traditional Korean mother-of-pearl inlay lacquered tray to symbolise hopes for continued friendly South Korea-China relations.

Gifts for visiting leaders are a key part of international diplomacy, but fraught with difficulties, particularly when such fresh comparisons can be made between offerings to the world's two most powerful people - who are also fierce rivals.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA (NOVEMBER 1, 2025) (SOUTH KOREA'S PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT - Access all)

1. CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING AND SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG WALKING TOWARD ROOM

2. LEE SHOWING PRESENT PREPARED FOR XI

(UPSOUND) (Korean) INTRODUCTION GIVEN BY A MAN NOT SEEN IN THE VIDEO “This is a gift specially prepared for President Xi Jinping.” / MANDARIN TRANSLATOR REPEAT THE SAME SENTENCE

(UPSOUND) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING: “This is very exquisite.”

(UPSOUND) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG SAYING: “This is made by torreya nucifera wood.”

(UPSOUND) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING: “What wood?”

(UPSOUND) (Mandarin) TRANSLATOR SAYING: “Torreya nucifera” / XI REPEATED HER WORDS / XI AND LEE MOVES TO ANOTHER GIFT

3. XI AND LEE LOOKING AT XIAOMI PHONES / LEE HOLDING ONE XIAOMI PHONE WHILE LISTENING TO PRODUCT INTRODUCTION / (UPSOUND) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG SAYING: “How is the communication security?” / (UPSOUND) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING: “You can check if there’s a backdoor.”

4. XI AND LEE LOOKING AT CALLIGRAPHY SET / (UPSOUND) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING: “this is cover (for calligraphy set).” / (UPSOUND) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG SAYING: “Very beautiful thank you very much. There is a little fish and this looks like a stamp.” / (UPSOUND) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING: “A stamp (NODDING) / (UPSOUND) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG SAYING: “Thank you very much.”