South Korea's Lee asks Trump to lead peaceful diplomacy with North Korea - CNA

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked US counterpart Donald Trump to lead efforts to resolve the North Korea issue peacefully, as he had done with the war in the Middle East, according to Lee's office.

US President Donald Trump welcomes South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Aug 25, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked US President Donald Trump to take the lead in seeking a peaceful resolution of tensions with North Korea during a brief exchange at the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday (Jun 16), Lee's office said.

The two leaders greeted each other during a G7 leaders' group photo, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said, where Trump asked Lee about the current state of relations with North Korea.

Lee asked Trump to lead efforts to resolve the North Korea issue peacefully, as he had done with the war in the Middle East, according to Lee's office. Trump responded that he would work to address the North Korea issue, Kang said.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday following the summit, G7 leaders expressed "deep concern" about North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete denuclearisation of North Korea in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions".

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less The leaders also urged North Korea to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang and reiterated the need to jointly address North Korea's cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held three meetings during Trump's first term, including a landmark summit in Singapore in 2018, a second summit in Hanoi in 2019 and a meeting later that year at the Demilitarised Zone between the two Koreas, where Trump became the first sitting US president to step into North Korea.

The diplomacy collapsed after the Hanoi summit failed to produce an agreement on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme and easing US-led sanctions.

Trump has repeatedly signalled interest in reviving direct diplomacy with Kim. He said in August 2025 that he looked forward to seeing the North Korean leader "in the appropriate future", and also said in October he would "love" to meet Kim again.

Trump last week posted a captionless photo of himself with Kim Jong Un on Truth Social, in an apparent reminder of their past diplomacy.

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Monday said he viewed the post as a "good signal" that Trump would be willing to focus on a meeting with Kim once the conflict with Iran is resolved, local media reported.

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