South Korea’s Lee says Trump open to considering phased approach to North Korea nuclear issue
By Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, June 19 (Reuters) – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday he had agreed to consider U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to prioritize halting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs in the short term and keep denuclearization a long-term goal.
Lee said Trump told him during the G7 summit in France that it was “time to pay attention” to North Korea and appeared eager to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but was frustrated about how to proceed.
“I explained that, without giving up the idea of denuclearization, we need to move forward step by step, not immediately, but in the short term, medium term and long term,” Lee said at a press conference after returning from France.
Lee said the short-term goal should be to stop North Korea from producing additional nuclear material, transferring weapons or materials abroad and further developing its intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
Lee said Trump said this “could go one way” and that he would think carefully about it.
Lee also said he told Trump that sanctions and pressure alone would not solve the North Korean nuclear problem, as Pyongyang appears to already have a certain number of nuclear weapons and continues to produce enough nuclear material to make about 10 to 20 nuclear weapons a year.
ICBM technology is also nearing the final stage, including re-entry capability, Lee said, adding that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia on the war in Ukraine has sharply reduced the effectiveness of sanctions.
Trump held unprecedented talks with Kim during his first term, but their second summit in Hanoi in 2019 collapsed over differences over denuclearization steps and sanctions relief. Pyongyang has since taken a tougher stance, declaring its nuclear status irreversible and non-negotiable.
On shipbuilding, Lee said Trump asked if South Korea could quickly build 10 US warships.
“I said of course it was possible and we would do our best,” Lee said.
Seoul has agreed to invest $150 billion in shipbuilding in the United States, led by South Korean companies, as part of the trade agreement with Washington.
Lee, who sat next to Trump for about 90 minutes at the G7 dinner in France, said the meeting allowed for more comprehensive talks than a formal summit.
During his 10-day trip to Europe, Lee attended the G7 summit and held formal and informal meetings with many world leaders, including Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Separately, Lee said that during his visit to the Vatican, he asked Pope Leo to consider visiting the Demilitarized Zone, which creates a buffer zone between the two Koreas and, if possible, North Korea.
Lee said the Pope would actively consider and pursue the idea.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim, Editing by Ed Davies)
