South Korean leader says he told Trump sanctions on North Korea are ‘ineffective’

SEOUL: Assistance from Russia had rendered sanctions imposed on nuclear-armed North Korea “ineffective”, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday after discussing the matter with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Lee and Trump met at a G7 summit in France this week, where they discussed the long-running standoff between South Korea and its northern neighbour.

“I told him sanctions and pressure are ineffective,” Lee told reporters in Seoul.

“The effectiveness of sanctions has diminished due to military cooperation between North Korea and Russia stemming from the war in Ukraine,” he added.

“Even a small amount of assistance from Russia is of great help to North Korea,” Lee said.

Pyongyang is under multiple sets of sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

While in France, Trump signed a deal aimed at ending the war in the Middle East, and speculation has been rife that his administration will next shift its diplomatic focus to North Korea.

Lee said Trump had told him in the French town of Evian that “the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue”.

On Sunday, Trump posted an uncaptioned photo of himself and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taken at a meeting in Singapore in 2018.

‘Irreversible’

Kim has recently sought to enhance his standing with his allies, sending troops and munitions to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

He also hosted Xi Jinping in Pyongyang soon after the Chinese president had held back-to-back summits in Beijing with Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The White House said Xi and Trump had “confirmed their shared goal of denuclearising North Korea” during their summit in China.

However, neither Pyongyang nor Beijing mentioned the issue in their official statements following the Xi-Kim summit – which experts interpreted as a sign of China’s tacit acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear status.

Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since a 2019 summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief.

Lee insisted Friday the international community “cannot abandon the goal of denuclearisation” of North Korea.

“The key point President Trump made was that it was unfortunate that possible measures had not been taken before North Korea became a nuclear-armed state,” he said.

“I also said that we can no longer deal with the North Korean nuclear issue in the same way we deal with other countries, and President Trump agreed,” Lee added.

‘In love’

Trump met Kim three times during his first term – once declaring they were “in love” – as he pushed to hammer out a long-coveted deal on denuclearisation.

On Friday, Lee said Trump told him that he wanted to pursue a new meeting with Kim “if there is a way to do so”.

Lee added that in a meeting at the Vatican this week he had invited Pope Leo for a visit next year, to attend World Youth Day in Seoul.

“I also requested that a visit to North Korea be arranged, if possible, alongside a visit to the DMZ during his trip,” said the president, referring to the demilitarised zone that separates the two Koreas.

“The Pope responded that he would actively consider and pursue the matter,” he said.