South Korean leader says possibility of US-North Korea talks up after Trump election

Seoul: South Korean Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said on Friday the possibility of dialogue between North Korea and the US seems to be high under the incoming Donald Trump administration, calling on the government to come up with a strategy to prevent South Korea from being bypassed.

Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), made the remarks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, noting media reports that Trump’s transition team is considering direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Yonhap news agency reported.

“The government should come up with a detailed strategy to keep pace with the rapidly changing global situation and prevent the ‘Korea passing’ from becoming a reality,” he said, stressing that the likelihood of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang has increased.

Lee expressed hopes that the second Trump administration will “complete the unfinished Hanoi talks” to create a new turning point in resolving the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump and Kim held rare summits in Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in 2019, but the Hanoi talks ended without a deal due to a failure to narrow differences over the scope of North Korea’s denuclearisation steps and sanctions relief by Washington.

Lee also pointed out that a unilateral and hard-line stance toward the North, including that of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, could be inappropriate, considering such changes in the international dynamics.

IANS