Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik in the city of Harbin, according to Chinese state media.

China Central Television(CCTV) reported that Xi met with Woo at Harbin's Taiyangdao Hotel Friday afternoon, hours before the Ninth Asian Winter Games was set to open in the northeastern Chinese city.

While CCTV did not disclose further details about the meeting, Woo had called for Xi to visit South Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit that will be held in the country's southeastern city of Gyeongju later this year.

This is the first time that the Chinese president formally met with a high-ranking official from South Korea amid political turmoil following the short-lived martial law declared on December 3.

Woo is currently on a five-day trip to China on an invitation from Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress.