South Korean President Park Geun-hye was to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of an annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders amid a possible conclusion of a bilateral free trade deal. The planned summit is expected to be dominated by ongoing negotiations between South Korea and China to reach a free trade deal as well as how to handle North Korea. When they met in Seoul in July, Park and Xi had agreed to strengthen efforts to achieve a deal before the end of the year. China is South Korea's largest trader. South Korea and China "are on the verge of reaching" a free trade deal, a senior South Korean official told reporters Sunday without elaborating, citing ongoing negotiations. "A successful conclusion of a free trade deal between South Korea and China could further boost discussions on economic integration in Asia and the Pacific region," Park said in an interview with China's BTV aired late Sunday. Park's planned meeting with Xi -- the fifth since last year -- comes amid China's push to create a sprawling free trade agreement in Asia and the Pacific region. Park arrived in Beijing on Sunday to attend the two-day APEC summit as part of South Korea's efforts to expand its diplomatic clout in the region. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Monday and Tuesday will bring together top leaders of the organization's 21 member economies, including the United States, Japan and Australia, which together account for nearly 60 percent of global gross domestic product and almost half of world trade. Also Monday, Park and Xi are expected to discuss the political situation on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has released two Americans, who had been detained in the communist country, just days before the annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in what could be a rare conciliatory gesture toward the U.S. Still, tensions persist on the divided peninsula over anti-Pyongyang leaflets critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The leaflets that North Korean defectors in South Korea regularly send to their homeland are meant to encourage the people there to rise up against Kim, a move that has drawn fierce protest from the communist country. Park also plans to attend a session on the APEC business advisory council and a banquet later in the day. From Beijing, she will fly to Myanmar and then Australia for separate multinational leaders' summits later this week. (Yonhap)