South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Friday that US President Donald Trump is looking to redirect his diplomatic efforts toward North Korea, particularly after he secured an accord with Iran, according to Al-Arabiya English.
“President Trump said that the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue,” Lee told reporters in Seoul.
He also said that he had informed Trump that sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program had proven ineffective.
“I told him sanctions and pressure (against the North) are ineffective,” the South Korean leader said.
Notably, Trump and Lee held talks over dinner on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian, France earlier this week.
The impact of sanctions has been undermined due to the increased military cooperation between North Korea and Russia following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
“Even a small amount of assistance from Russia is of great help to North Korea,” Lee added.
Just hours after signing an agreement with Tehran, Trump posted an uncaptioned photograph on social media showing him alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their landmark 2018 summit in Singapore.
The post quickly sparked speculation that the Trump administration may now shift its diplomatic focus toward nuclear-armed North Korea.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, as the 1950–53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and are divided by a demilitarized zone separating between South and North Korea.
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