South Korean president urges Trump dialogue with Pyongyang
Seoul Presses for a New Opening With Pyongyang
Poinews.com – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called on US President Donald Trump to keep pursuing engagement with North Korea, arguing that even a difficult diplomatic opening should not be dismissed.
Speaking to reporters at Seoul’s presidential Blue House on Friday, Lee said Trump appeared committed to maintaining contact with Pyongyang. South Korea, he said, is continuing preliminary coordination aimed at making renewed dialogue between Washington and North Korea possible.
“I cannot say for certain how likely it is, but it is also clear that we must make every possible effort to turn that possibility into reality,” Lee said.
Lee acknowledged that arranging a meeting remains challenging, but stressed that it is not beyond reach. His comments underline Seoul’s interest in avoiding a further freeze in relations at a time when North Korea continues to strengthen its military posture and deepen ties with Russia.
Trump signals interest in meeting Kim again
Trump said in August that he intended to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year, though he did not provide a timetable or details of how such talks might be organised. A meeting would be the first between the two leaders since Trump’s first term in the White House.
During that earlier period, Trump and Kim held high-profile summits that generated global attention but did not lead to a lasting agreement on North Korea’s nuclear programme. Their past personal rapport remains central to Trump’s argument that diplomacy is still worth attempting.
“You know what, the fact that I get along with him, that's a good thing not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen,” Trump said in August.
Pyongyang has given little public indication that it is ready to resume discussions. Its restrained response to Trump’s latest remarks has been accompanied by sharper criticism of US and allied military activity in the region.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader and a powerful figure in the country’s ruling system, condemned regional military drills in a statement carried Friday by the state-run KCNA news agency. She described them as a US-led rehearsal for war and warned that North Korea would respond more forcefully to what it sees as hostile actions.
“The present situation, in which new records are set in terms of practical action hostile toward the DPRK, stresses the need to break records in our responsive action, proportional or more offensive in its nature,” Kim Yo Jong said.
“Our will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer action and there will be never ever change in the course of intensifying the nuclear war deterrence.”
Military exercises remain a major obstacle
The dispute over joint drills illustrates the tension surrounding any effort to restart talks. In August, Trump said he had instructed US forces to reduce what he called costly military exercises with South Korea, arguing that the drills projected an inappropriate and hostile message toward Pyongyang.
In a Truth Social post explaining the decision, Trump said he had asked South Korea’s president whether Seoul wanted to participate in the denuclearisation of Iran. He said the response was: “No thanks!”
For North Korea, military drills involving the United States and South Korea have long been a central complaint. Seoul and Washington regard such exercises as part of their defensive alliance, while Pyongyang portrays them as preparations for an attack. That divide has repeatedly complicated attempts to turn diplomatic gestures into sustained negotiations.
Lee’s appeal for continued contact reflects the narrow path facing South Korea: backing its security partnership with the United States while leaving room for dialogue with the North. Any future Trump-Kim meeting would need to overcome disagreements over nuclear weapons, military activity and the terms under which North Korea might return to negotiations.
South Korea rules out wider role in Middle East conflict
Lee also addressed concerns that South Korea could be drawn into conflict in the Middle East. He said Seoul would not send troops or military assets in a manner that would involve the country directly in war.
“There will be no involvement or intervention in the war. We will not deploy troops or military assets in that manner,” Lee said.
South Korea would instead conduct only the minimum activities required to protect its merchant vessels and oil supply routes in the region, he added. The position comes amid discussion of a possible South Korean troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital passage for oil and gas shipments.
The waterway has been at the centre of heightened friction between Washington and Tehran since the Iran war began in late February. For South Korea, the issue carries direct economic importance because secure sea lanes are essential for commercial shipping and energy deliveries.
Lee’s statements show how Seoul is attempting to manage two separate security pressures at once: uncertainty over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and risks to shipping routes far from the Korean Peninsula. While the president has left the door open to renewed US-North Korea diplomacy, he has drawn a clear boundary around South Korea’s role in the Middle East.
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