BEIJING - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will pay a state visit to China from Dec 13 to Dec 16 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.

Moon was born on Jan 24, 1953 in the country's southeastern province of South Gyeongsang. He majored in law at Kyunghee University in Seoul.

Moon founded a law firm in 1982. He served as chief presidential secretary for civil affairs in 2003, and chief presidential secretary for civil society in 2004.

In 2007, Moon was the chairman of the Council of Promotion for the Second Inter-Korean Summit. In 2010, he served as director at The Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. Moon won a parliamentary seat in the April 2012 general elections.

Moon was elected as the leader of New Politics Alliance for Democracy in 2015, and he was elected as South Korea's 19th president in May 2017.

Moon is married and has a son and a daughter.