Trump signals renewed focus on North Korea’s nuclear program
South Korea’s president said Trump told him at a G7 dinner that Washington should turn attention to North Korea after an Iran deal.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
2 min read
US President Donald Trump plans to turn more attention to North Korea’s nuclear program after Washington reached an agreement with Iran, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said, according to AFP. The comment could mark a renewed US push on Pyongyang’s weapons program after years without visible progress.
Lee told reporters that Trump raised the issue during a Friday dinner at the G7 summit. Lee quoted Trump as saying that “the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue,” AFP reported.
Lee said he told Trump that sanctions aimed at North Korea were “ineffective,” pointing to expanding military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. “Even a small amount of assistance from Russia is of great help to North Korea,” Lee said, according to AFP.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, AFP reported. The countries are divided by the Demilitarized Zone, and North Korea announced its first nuclear test in 2006.
North Korea is believed to possess dozens of nuclear weapons, according to AFP. Pyongyang has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state since Trump’s 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi collapsed over disagreements on denuclearisation and sanctions relief.
North Korea’s closer ties with allies
Kim has recently tried to strengthen ties with allies, AFP reported. North Korea has sent troops and munitions to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the news agency.
Kim also hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang after Xi held consecutive summits in Beijing with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported. Official statements from Pyongyang and Beijing did not mention North Korean denuclearisation, an omission AFP said experts viewed as tacit acceptance from China.
Kim has pledged to expand North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, AFP reported. He made the pledge while unveiling a new facility for developing nuclear bomb fuels.
Trump’s record with Kim
Trump met Kim three times during his first term as president while seeking a denuclearisation deal, AFP reported. He once said the two leaders were “in love,” but the talks did not produce tangible progress.
Trump renewed his outreach to Kim during an Asia tour last year, saying he was “100 percent” open to another meeting, according to AFP. The offer has not been answered.
Trump also departed from decades of US policy by saying North Korea was “sort of a nuclear power,” AFP reported. On Sunday, he posted an uncaptioned photo of himself with Kim from their 2018 meeting in Singapore.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.