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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump clearly wants renewed dialogue with North Korea, as Seoul continues efforts to help facilitate talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
“What is clear is that President Trump wants dialogue, and I am also urging President Trump to engage in dialogue,” Lee told reporters at a press conference at the presidential Blue House.
Lee said South Korea was continuing “preliminary coordination efforts” aimed at helping create conditions for dialogue between North Korea and the U.S.
He acknowledged that arranging a meeting remains difficult but said it was “not impossible.”
“I cannot say for certain how likely it is, but it is also clear that we must make every possible effort to turn that possibility into reality,” Lee said.
Trump said last month that he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year as he seeks to revive the relationship he says he developed with Kim during his first term.
The U.S. president also said it was important to “get along” with Kim and said North Korea had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. South Korea estimates Pyongyang has around 80 to 120.
North Korea has not clearly responded to Trump’s overtures, while nuclear negotiations remain deadlocked.
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