South Korean President Lee Hopeful Trump Can Resume Dialogue With Kim Jong-Un

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said that Pyongyang seemed to put more weight on the views of Washington than those that came from Seoul.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 29, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Dec. 3 that he remained hopeful that U.S. President Donald Trump could persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resume dialogue.

During a press conference with foreign media to mark the anniversary of a martial law crisis, Lee said that Pyongyang appeared to take Washington more seriously than Seoul.

Lee, who ran for election on a platform to improve relations on the Korean Peninsula, has so far had his overtures rebuffed by South Korea’s reclusive northern neighbors.

Lee said that stalled relations between the North and South should not stymie efforts to resume talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

“North Korea has outrightly rejected our calls for talks, but there are many things that the U.S. can do,” he said, according to Yonhap News Agency. “North Korea sees the U.S., not South Korea, as the party that can provide security guarantees for its regime.”

Lee added that he is ready to help create the conditions needed for the resumption of discussions between North Korea and the United States and provide “strategic leverage,” including scaling down joint military drills with Washington, Yonhap reports.

“We will do our best to create objective conditions so that communication and cooperation can occur at any time. [Scaling down] the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises are also part of that,” he said.

“During the recent [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] meeting, U.S. President Trump wanted and hoped to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un, but that did not work out. But circumstances are always changing, so we will do our best to create environments that allow for communication.”

Trump and Kim held summits in 2018 and 2019 before negotiations broke down over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) at the North Korean side of the border at the village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, on June 30, 2019. Susan Walsh/AP

Since Lee took office in June, he has had two summits with Trump and finalized a trade deal, which includes a $350 billion U.S. investment package.

Lee said he found his conversations with Trump “interesting and entertaining.” He described the American president as “a realist, pragmatist, and master of dealmaking who respects his counterparts.”

Lee Weighs Apology to North Korea

Lee said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted predecessor, imprisoned former President Yoon Suk Yeol, intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December 2024.

Yoon sparked a crisis in the country when he imposed martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and sent troops to surround the National Assembly. He was later impeached, removed from office, and detained. He is standing trial on charges including masterminding a rebellion.

Ousted former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol gestures from a vehicle as he returns to his former residence in an apartment complex in Seoul, on April 11, 2025. Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters

A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top defense officials over allegations that he ordered drone flights over North Korea to stoke tensions.

In a Dec. 1 post on X, Lee said that “a war nearly broke out” because the Yoon government tried to use martial law as a pretext to start a war with North Korea. He also said South Korea’s military sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea.

“I have thought that perhaps I should apologize, but I haven’t dared to say it because my concern is that it might be used as a tool for so-called pro-North labeling or trigger an ideological confrontation,” Lee told reporters on Dec. 3.

North Korea publicly accused Yoon’s government of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets in October 2024.

At the time, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun denied involvement in the leaflet drop, but South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later stated that it could not confirm whether the claims were true or whether the drop was carried out by South Korean freedom activists.

According to NK News, the leaflets contained information for North Koreans showing them how much rice and corn they can purchase compared with the average South Korean on a 3,500,000 won ($2,603) monthly salary. They also contained information about the lifestyle of Kim, who was pictured in the leaflet wearing a $12,000 luxury IWC Portofino Automatic watch.

Pyongyang said in June 2024 that it had retaliated against leaflet drops coming from South Korea by sending thousands of balloons carrying trash and feces toward South Korea. Seoul responded by resuming loudspeaker broadcasts near the border areas.

A balloon presumably sent by North Korea, on the Han River in Seoul, South Korea, on June 9, 2024. South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff via AP

Turning his attention from Washington to Beijing, Lee said the stable management of ties between South Korea and China, Seoul’s biggest export market, was crucial.

He said he hoped to “visit China at an early date and hold summit talks” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping “for broad discussions.”

“I believe we should also discuss cooperation for security in Northeast Asia,” he said.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.