​Urging pivot on North Korea, South’s leader calls for easing sanctions

SEOUL, South Korea — Breaking with decades of policy on North Korea, the president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, is now urging the United States to ease sanctions on Pyongyang in exchange for an agreement that it will freeze its weapons programs.

“I believe there is significant value in a trade-off between sanctions — which are not particularly effective anyway — and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology,” Lee said in an interview with The New York Times on Friday.

However unpalatable such a bargain may seem, the world has no realistic alternative, Lee argued. North Korea is increasingly brandishing its nuclear missiles against the South. It is no longer the isolated pariah that Washington has tried to tame through a mix of pressure and dialogue as the wars in Ukraine and Iran have altered the geopolitical landscape.

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Russia and China have reembraced North Korea as a strategic partner, particularly after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, deployed troops and weapons to support Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That conflict, alongside America’s strikes in Iran, has only strengthened North Korea’s resolve to expand its nuclear deterrent.

Still, Lee believes President Donald Trump is the only leader capable of drawing Kim back to the negotiating table. South Korean officials say Trump represents the North Korean leader’s best opportunity to sign a peace treaty for the Korean War, which never formally ended, and normalize relations with Washington.

The ultimate goal would be to create an environment where Pyongyang feels secure enough to survive without nuclear weapons.

This week, Lee will visit New York, where he will present his vision for peace and coexistence on the Korean Peninsula to the United Nations.

Lee hopes to leverage Trump’s enduring fascination with the North Korean dictator to persuade the U.S. leader to restart stalled talks and de-escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Lee said the current stalemate in relations is simply too risky to be allowed to continue, as North Korea is steadily expanding its nuclear arsenal.

“Our estimates suggest that North Korea is now capable of producing, or may already be producing, an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year,” Lee said. “Once it believes it has accumulated enough nuclear weapons and missiles to guarantee its survival, it will be tempted to export them to make money.

“That will be a truly dangerous moment,” he said.