The office of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has said that it hopes President Trump’s “friendly relationship” with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un will lead to “meaningful dialogue” between Washington and Pyongyang.
The statement came after President Trump announced that he was scaling back a joint US-South Korean military exercise that began on Monday, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, citing his “very good relationship” with Kim, whom he met with three times during his first term in office.
It remains to be seen if the drills will be scaled back in any meaningful way, but Trump’s declaration could create room for renewed diplomacy between the US and North Korea.
While Trump took a dig at South Korea for not participating in the Iran war, criticism he repeated on Monday, his statement aligns with the agenda of President Lee, who proposed direct talks with North Korea one day before Trump’s announcement.
Lee’s office said that it hoped that diplomacy between the US and North Korea would lead to “discussions aimed at advancing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
Lee made clear when he took office in June 2025 that pursuing a less hostile relationship with North Korea would be a key priority. He was elected after former President Yoon Seok Yeol, who was much more hawkish toward Pyongyang, was impeached and removed from office over his brief attempt to shut down the National Assembly by declaring martial law in December 2024.
Under Yoon, South Korea and the US resumed major war games in 2022 that had been suspended since 2018, after Trump began engaging with Kim. Since then, tensions have soared on the Korean Peninsula, with frequent North Korean missile tests, which Kim framed as a response to the US-South Korea military drills.
