South Korea would accept a Trump-Kim deal to freeze nuclear programme as ’emergency measure’

South Korean President said that he would accept an agreement between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s nuclear weapons, instead of getting rid of them, instead of getting rid of them.

Lee Jae Myung said that North Korea BBC produces 15-20 more nuclear weapons per year and would be a “temporary emergency measure”.

In 2022, North Korea declared a nuclear energy and promised that he would never leave his weapons.

Previous negotiation initiatives failed and Pyongyang rejected their invitations to return to negotiations since then.

“As long as we do not give up the goal of purifying long -term nuclear weapons, I believe that North Korea stops the development of nuclear and missiles,” Lee Jae Myung said. He said.

“The question is whether we continue with fruit -free initiatives for the final target. [of denuclearisation] Or we set more realistic goals and we achieve some of them, Lee Lee added.

Mayor Lee, who took office in June, wants to establish peaceful relations with North Korea and reduce the tensions under flames under his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, whom he was influenced because he was trying to implement martial law last year.

After the South Korean leader asked the North to dismantle his nuclear facilities from the North, he was vocal to ask him to continue nuclear talks with Kim, who was broken in 2019 in the first period of Trump.

Lee, BBC, “to some extent to have mutual trust because they think that the couple can come together,” he said. This can benefit South Korea and contribute to global peace and security.

BBC sat on Monday with the President of South Korea in his office in Seoul before his trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

South Korea is currently the presidency of the UN Security Council, but Lee would not be drawn about whether the body failed in South Korea, because for years, both China and Russia have prevented attempts to implement further sanctions on the nuclear program.

“Although it is clear that the UN is inadequate in creating a peaceful world, I still believe that it has fulfilled many important functions,” Lee said.

When asked whether China now provides North Korea’s nuclear weapon program, Lee said it was “impossible to know,” but based on its current knowledge, it wasn’t her understanding.

At the beginning of this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Kim at a military parade with Russia in a military parade with Vladimir Putin, unlike past meetings, China did not mention the nuclear weapons of the North or nuclear weapons.

Lee, China’s parade, shown in the parade, Moscow and Pyongyang, the developing ties, South Korea “very difficult,” he said.

“It is not clear to us to see that China, Russia and North Korea has become so close,” he said, and said he would continue to work closely with the US and Japan.

Historically, South Korea balances its relations between the US – military ally – and China, on which its trade is based on most of its trade, but this rope becomes more difficult to walk.

Recently, Lee said that he would stand with the US in the New World Order, but when talking to him, he wants to avoid making an enemy in the process.

This once the left -leaning, hard opposition leader now presents himself as a centrist. South Korea carefully chooses his words and positions as he tries to walk around a changing world.

“Really precarious position” next to China and Russia, “the world is divided into two camps and South Korea was positioned on the border.” He said.

“This is becoming more difficult. However, these camps cannot close their doors completely, so we can position ourselves in the middle.”

During the Ukrainian War, Lee was careful not to throw a military partnership with North Korea to not throw a future relationship with Russia – which sent food, oil and a large amount of money in exchange for weapons and unity.

“It is clear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be condemned and the war must end as soon as possible.” He said.

“However, the relations between countries are not simple and we find ways to cooperate everywhere possible and try to exist peacefully.”

His attention can be understood. The dangers of relying too much in the United States have never been so evident, and both American friends and enemies were caught in Trump’s ongoing trade war.

Lee managed to reduce tariffs in South Korea to 15%and drew the president during a recent trip to the White House.

But then, two weeks ago, US immigrant officials detained hundreds of Korean workers who built a car battery factory in Georgia, which is part of the commitment of South Korea’s production to the United States, and invested hundreds of billions of dollars there. Lee’s government managed to ensure the release of workers a week later.

“As the president, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the harsh treatment of our citizens,” he said as “shocking”. Authorized, Korean companies will probably be “more hesitant to invest in the United States”, he added.

However, Lee said he believes that he could use Seoul to strengthen his relationship with Washington.

“There is a Korean proverb who says’ the floor hardens after the rain.”

At home, Lee is challenging a polar country that has been shaken by the political turmoil for months after trying to regulate a previous President’s military transfer. Yoon, who is currently facing life in prison, increased tensions with North Korea.

He tried to justify the martial law attempt by claiming that the institutions of the country had infiltrated by Pyongyang fans.

Now Lee says he’s trying to do his best to repair the trust with the North. After entering the office, his government in Seoul stopped from transmitting radio broadcasts to North Korea.

The anger of these publications was known by Kim Jong Un, but it was one of the few ways to get information from outside the country by the increasingly isolated North Korean people. The movement was criticized by human rights organizations.

“We judge this [these broadcasts] It has almost no practical effect, Lee Lee said when he was asked to justify his decision.

“The important thing is, especially because the last government’s stance towards North Korea is very hostile to regain the trust between the North and the South. We think that these measures will help North Korea return to negotiations.”

North rejected Lee’s gestures of goodwill and called him “delusional” and “imagination.”

But Lee is not naive. Donald knows Trump is the most likely way to peace in the peninsula and that this path should be redrawn.

Unlike the others in front of him, who is willing to describe himself as a pragmatist, North Korea’s nuclear weapons cannot be negotiated from existence – at least for now.