Trump ‘Clearly’ Seeks Talks With North Korea, South Korean President Says

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that US President Donald Trump appears determined to reopen dialogue with North Korea, while making clear that Seoul will not participate militarily in the ongoing conflict involving Iran.

Lee said Trump’s interest in engaging with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was evident and urged the US president to pursue talks with Pyongyang. Trump has previously indicated that he wants to rebuild the relationship he established with Kim during his first term. Last month, he said he expected to meet the North Korean leader later this year.

The US president has also stressed the importance of maintaining ties with Kim and claimed that North Korea possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. South Korean estimates are higher, putting Pyongyang’s arsenal at roughly 80 to 120 weapons.

North Korea, which has deepened its strategic relationship with Russia in recent years, has yet to give a clear response to Trump’s latest approach. Lee said Seoul was continuing preliminary coordination efforts aimed at creating an opportunity for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Speaking to reporters at the presidential Blue House, Lee acknowledged that arranging such a meeting would be challenging but said it remained 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,” he said.

Lee’s comments came after Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and a senior figure in Pyongyang, accused Washington of heightening regional tensions through repeated military exercises. She warned that North Korea could respond with a more offensive approach.

Kim Yo Jong also rejected the possibility of North Korea abandoning its nuclear arsenal, saying a day earlier that only “idiots” would expect Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

South Korea and the United States conducted a shorter version of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises last month after Trump ordered the drills to be scaled back.

South Korea Rules Out Troop Deployment To Iran War

Lee also firmly ruled out sending South Korean troops or military assets to take part in the Iran conflict. “There will be no involvement or intervention in the war. We will not deploy troops or military assets in that manner,” Lee said.

His statement followed reports that Seoul had been considering a possible role in protecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global energy supplies that has become a major flashpoint during the conflict.

Lee said South Korea would limit its activities to those necessary to protect its own commercial vessels and oil transportation routes. He stressed that Seoul’s policy of non-involvement and non-intervention would remain in place.

“We have upheld the principle of non-involvement and non-intervention in the war until now,” Lee said. “And we will continue to uphold it going forward.”

Trump has previously criticized US allies for providing insufficient support to Washington during the conflict. In a Fox News interview last month, he said the United States had received “very little help” from other countries and singled out South Korea.

The United States currently has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea under the countries’ longstanding security alliance. The US military presence dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.

Trump’s repeated criticism of longstanding US alliances has raised questions over Washington’s future security commitments in East Asia.