South Korea will continue its efforts to promote dialogue between the United States and North Korea.
Published September 18, 2026
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Friday that President Donald Trump wants dialogue with North Korea and confirmed that South Korea will not send troops to intervene militarily in the Iran war.
“Mr. Trump clearly wants to have dialogue with North Korea,” Lee said Friday.
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He added that such talks are uncertain but not impossible.
South Korea continued its “preliminary coordination efforts” to promote dialogue between North Korea and the United States.
“Resuming North Korea-US dialogue will be much easier than resuming inter-Korean dialogue,” he said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
President Trump has said he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year as he seeks to restore ties he claims he forged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term.
The US president said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that North Korea currently has 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
The South Korean government estimates that North Korea has approximately 80 to 120 nuclear warheads.
North Korea has secured significant support from Russia in recent years, but did not respond explicitly to President Trump.
Inter-Korean relations reached a high point in 2018, but deteriorated after talks between Kim and Trump broke down in February 2019.
A court in Seoul on Thursday ordered North Korea to pay about $32.5 million for blowing up the inter-Korean liaison office building in 2020. The office was intended to improve relations on the peninsula, but was destroyed amid rising tensions between the neighboring countries.
South Korea is working to strengthen ties with other regional partners. The first presidential summit between Seoul and five Central Asian countries was held on Wednesday, with the aim of establishing deeper economic engagement with Russia’s allies.
South Korea does not send troops
Despite increasing pressure from the United States, Mr. Lee reiterated three times that South Korea will not send troops to the Strait of Hormuz.
“Let me be clear: There will be no deployment of troops that will lead to involvement in a conflict. There will be no involvement or involvement in a war,” Lee said.
In recent weeks, protests have erupted against the possible deployment of South Korean military assets in the Strait of Hormuz, and the South Korean government has found itself at odds with large sections of South Korean society.
Lee added that South Korea will “carry out the minimum necessary activities” to protect its commercial shipping and oil shipping routes.
