South Korea says US-North Korea talks possible, rules out Hormuz deployment

South Korea will continue efforts to facilitate talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attends a news conference [Ahn Young-joon/Reuters]

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that United States President Donald Trump wants dialogue with Pyongyang and confirmed Seoul will not be deploying troops to intervene militarily in the Iran war.

“Trump clearly ⁠wants dialogue ⁠with North ⁠Korea,” Lee said on Friday.

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He added that while such talks are uncertain, they are not impossible.

South Korea was continuing “preliminary coordination efforts” to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the US.

“The resumption of North Korea-US dialogue would be far easier than resuming inter-Korean dialogue,” he said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term, said he plans to meet Kim later this year.

The US president said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.

Seoul has assessed that Pyongyang has about 80-120 nuclear warheads.

North Korea, which has secured critical backing from Russia in recent years, did not clearly respond to Trump.

Inter-Korean relations reached a high in 2018 but deteriorated after talks between Kim and Trump collapsed in February 2019.

On Thursday, a court in Seoul ordered North Korea to pay roughly $32.5m for blowing up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office building in 2020. The office was intended to improve relations on the peninsula but was destroyed amid rising tensions between the neighbours.

South Korea is working to strengthen relations with other regional partners. The first-ever presidential summit between Seoul and five Central Asian states was held on Wednesday, aiming to establish deeper economic engagement with the Russian-allied countries.

South Korea will not dispatch troops

Despite growing pressure from the US, Lee reiterated three times that South Korea will not deploy troops to the Strait of Hormuz.

“Let it be clear. There will be no dispatch of troops that will lead to involvement in a conflict. There will be no engagement or involvement in war,” Lee said.

The South Korean government found itself at odds with large parts of Korean society as protests broke out in recent weeks opposing a potential deployment of South Korean military assets to the Strait of Hormuz.

Lee added that South Korea will “carry out the minimum necessary activities” to protect its own merchant ships and oil shipping routes.

韩国将继续努力促成华盛顿和平壤之间的对话。

韩国总统李在明出席新闻发布会 [安永俊/路透社]

韩国总统李在明周五表示，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普希望与平壤进行对话，并确认首尔不会部署军队以军事手段干预伊朗战争。

李周五表示：“特朗普显然希望与朝鲜对话。”

列表 1/3：韩国如何陷入美伊战争的漩涡

韩国寻求与中亚领导人建立联系，以提升其地区影响力（共3条，此为第2条）

首尔法院判令朝鲜赔偿3250万美元，原因是炸毁了首尔办公室（共3条记录，此为第3条）。

他补充说，虽然此类会谈尚不确定，但并非不可能。

韩国继续开展“初步协调工作”，以促进朝鲜和美国之间的对话。

据韩国联合通讯社报道，他说：“恢复朝美对话远比恢复朝韩对话容易得多。”

特朗普试图重振他声称在第一任期内与朝鲜领导人金正恩建立的关系，并表示他计划在今年晚些时候与金正恩会面。

美国总统表示，与金正恩“搞好关系”很重要，并补充说，平壤现在拥有57枚“威力非常强大的”核武器。

首尔方面评估认为，平壤拥有约 80 至 120 枚核弹头。

近年来获得俄罗斯关键支持的朝鲜，并未对特朗普的言论作出明确回应。

2018年朝韩关系达到顶峰，但在2019年2月金正恩与特朗普的会谈破裂后，朝韩关系恶化。

周四，首尔一家法院裁定朝鲜需赔偿约3250万美元，原因是其在2020年炸毁了朝韩联络办公室大楼。该办公室旨在改善朝鲜半岛关系，但在邻国间紧张局势加剧的情况下被摧毁。

韩国正致力于加强与其他地区伙伴的关系。周三，首尔与五个中亚国家举行了首次总统峰会，旨在与这些俄罗斯盟友国家建立更深层次的经济联系。

韩国不会派遣军队

尽管来自美国的压力越来越大，李明博仍三次重申韩国不会向霍尔木兹海峡部署军队。

李说：“我要明确表示，不会派遣任何会导致卷入冲突的军队，也不会参与任何战争。”

最近几周，韩国政府与韩国社会的大部分民众产生了分歧，因为民众爆发了抗议活动，反对韩国向霍尔木兹海峡部署军事力量。

李补充说，韩国将“采取必要的最低限度措施”来保护自己的商船和石油运输航线。