Lee Jae Myung urges speedy resumption of North Korea–US talks at UN

NEW YORK — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged the speedy resumption of North Korea–US talks in a Tuesday address to the UN General Assembly, saying President Donald Trump’s resolve had created a “hard-won opportunity for change”. Korea JoongAng Daily

Lee laid out a three-point blueprint for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula — building mutual respect, rendering conflict unnecessary, and responsibly contributing to world peace — vowing Seoul would act as a “pacemaker” to open and sustain the path to dialogue.

“I hope the long-suspended dialogue between North Korea and the United States can resume without delay,” Lee told the 81st session in New York. The North’s delegation seats were reportedly empty.

He reiterated a phased denuclearisation approach: freeze further advances in the North’s nuclear and missile capabilities, then reductions, and in the long term “a Korean Peninsula free from nuclear weapons”.

The address followed interviews published on Monday in which Lee told the New York Times there was “significant value in a trade-off between sanctions — which are not particularly effective anyway — and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology”. Reuters He warned Pyongyang could already be producing 10 to 20 more nuclear weapons a year and might one day export them. Reuters In an Associated Press interview, he said Seoul and Washington were willing to engage Pyongyang “without preconditions”, and that a “political decision at the leaders’ level” was needed. Kyunghyang Shinmun

Sources

• Korea JoongAng Daily — Lee urges North Korea-US talks to resume, cites Trump opportunity at UN
• Reuters — South Korea’s Lee urges US to ease North Korea sanctions to freeze nuclear programs, NYT says
• The Japan Times (Reuters) — South Korea’s Lee urges U.S. to ease North Korea sanctions, report says
• Aju Press — President Lee Proposes U.S. Sanctions Relief for North Korea’s Nuclear Freeze
• Kyunghyang Shinmun — President Lee: “South Korea and the United States are willing to talk with North Korea without preconditions”