Donald Trump is shifting focus to North Korea after striking a preliminary agreement with Iran aimed at ending Middle Eastern conflict, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday.
Speaking in Seoul after meeting Mr Trump at the G7 summit in Evian, Lee stated that the US President believes it’s time to address tensions with North Korea.
Lee revealed he had told Trump that sanctions and pressure over North Korea’s nuclear programme had proven largely ineffective.
He explained that North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia amid the Ukraine war had weakened the impact of sanctions, adding that even limited Russian support significantly bolsters Pyongyang.
Hours after announcing the Iran deal, Trump posted an uncaptioned photo of his 2018 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, sparking speculation of a renewed diplomatic focus on North Korea.
The two presidents held discussions over dinner in Evian this week, covering the ongoing rivalry between South Korea and its nuclear-armed neighbour.
Lee wrote on social media platform X that their talks included subjects related to peace on the Korean Peninsula and US-South Korea relations and resulted in “significant progress.”
North and South Korea remain technically at war, as their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The two nations are divided by a demilitarised zone along their border.
