NEW YORK — President Lee Jae-myung said on the 21st that "trading away sanctions that have little practical effect in exchange for a halt to further nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology development would be of considerable value." The remark laid out a realistic path within his phased denuclearization concept of freeze, reduction and dismantlement.
Lee, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said in a New York Times interview published that day that "if we set denuclearization as the goal under the current circumstances, we will achieve nothing." Behind the comment is a view that easing sanctions is the realistic way to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons and ICBMs, given the country's changed international standing as it draws closer to Russia and China.
Lee also warned of proliferation risks. "North Korea currently has the capacity to produce an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year," he said. "If it judges that it has secured enough nuclear weapons and missiles, it will be tempted to export them to make money." He added that "that would be a truly dangerous moment."
On talks between Washington and Pyongyang, Lee made his support clear, asking "what option is left other than diplomacy." In a written interview with The Associated Press released the same day, he said that "both South Korea and the United States are willing to talk with North Korea without preconditions," stressing that "what is needed now is a political decision at the leaders' level."
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism over investment negotiations with Washington, Lee said he "fully understands that the U.S. president can make various remarks from his position." He also said that "sending troops to a war between third countries is prohibited by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea," adding that he is "not shaken" by pressure to deploy forces to the Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, Lee approved the appointments of Lee Hyoung-il as deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy, Kang Shin-chul as defense minister and Hong Ji-sun as land minister immediately after arriving in the United States. The presidential office also expressed "deep regret" over Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's refusal to renominate a Supreme Court justice.
Lee: Trade Sanctions Relief for Halt to Nuclear Weapons, ICBMs
Lee's decision to raise the possibility that North Korea could export nuclear weapons abroad is read as an attempt to alert the international community that the North's nuclear program could spill beyond the Korean Peninsula into a global proliferation threat. Also at work was a sense of urgency that pursuing only "complete denuclearization" while the North keeps expanding its arsenal would mean "achieving nothing."
In the New York Times interview published on the 21st, Lee said that "if North Korea judges that it has secured enough nuclear weapons and missiles to guarantee its own survival, it will fall to the temptation of exporting them to make money," adding that "that would be a truly dangerous moment." The warning suggests Seoul must now consider not only the North's pursuit of deterrence for regime survival but the prospect of it spreading nuclear weapons outward.
The comments also rest on a judgment that the international landscape around North Korea has shifted. Since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, the North has supplied troops and weapons to Russia, and both Russia and China have again embraced it as a strategic partner. The New York Times assessed that the war in Ukraine and the U.S. strikes on Iran have further hardened the North's determination to expand its nuclear deterrent. In other words, isolation and sanctions alone no longer suffice to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table as they once might have.
Lee's remark that "if we set denuclearization as the goal under the current circumstances, we will achieve nothing" reflects that context. Rather than abandoning eventual denuclearization, he argues for first breaking the vicious cycle in which the North's nuclear capability keeps growing while complete dismantlement is demanded as the starting point for talks.
In the AP interview released the same day, Lee spelled out his solution as freeze, then reduction, then dismantlement. "To change the direction of a moving car, you first have to bring it to a stop," he said, calling the phased approach "a practical way to effectively resolve the North Korean nuclear issue." He plans to present the same phased, practical approach in his keynote address to the U.N. General Assembly on the 23rd.
As a corresponding step to secure a freeze first, he put sanctions relief on the table. Lee told the New York Times that "trading away sanctions that have little practical effect in exchange for a halt to further nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology development would be of considerable value."
In an interview with Time marking his 100th day in office last year, he had gone only as far as leaving open the possibility that "compensation could be offered." This time he went a step further, presenting a concrete corresponding measure that would swap a halt to nuclear and ICBM development for sanctions relief. The idea is to offer Pyongyang incentives, build trust and ultimately create conditions in which it concludes it can survive without nuclear weapons.
Whether phased denuclearization can succeed is a separate question. Lee Kyu-jung, a research professor at Korea University's Institute for Peace and Democracy, said that "in the end, how tightly verification and corresponding measures are designed in the process leading from a nuclear freeze to reduction and dismantlement will determine whether the phased denuclearization concept succeeds or fails." The AP also noted concerns that the North could obtain what it wants, such as sanctions relief, in return for giving up part of its nuclear capability and then refuse full disarmament.
Lee also voiced expectations for Trump's role in that process. Trump has himself shown interest in resuming summit diplomacy with Pyongyang, emphasizing his "very good relationship" with leader Kim. "The two leaders need to build trust, meet directly and find common ground," Lee said, reiterating that "what is needed now is a political decision at the leaders' level." He also assessed positively Trump's signals of willingness to resume talks with the North, including scaled-back South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, calling them "a deliberate step to send a clear message that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea."
At the same time, Lee took a measured tone toward U.S. pressure over investment in the United States and a troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz. On Trump's series of remarks, he said he "fully understands that the U.S. president can make various statements from his position," and on the Hormuz deployment he reaffirmed his existing position that it is "difficult under the South Korean Constitution."
Even so, he stressed that he "plans to build a more reciprocal alliance during the remainder of President Trump's term." Citing shipbuilding cooperation as an example, he said such work "can revive U.S. shipbuilding and naval power while also offering new growth opportunities to South Korean companies."
