United Nations – South Korean President said on Friday that South Korean President asked President Donald Trump to become a “peace maker” and use his leadership to make North Korea to talk to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Foreign Minister Zhou Hyun said in an interview with Associated Press that Trump “welcomed” at the request of President Lee Jay Meongy and “he expressed his willingness to participate with North Korea again.” There was no immediate word from the White House.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met three times, as North Korea was building a stock of nuclear weapons, which Kim seen as a key to the country’s security and continuous wisdom in northeastern Asia.
There were two summaries in Singapore in June 2018, and in Vietnam in February 2019, where Trump and Kim differed from the US -led sanctions against the North. A third meeting that year on the border between the two Koreas failed to save their nuclear talks, and since then Kim has avoided any diplomacy with the United States and South Korea.
“It would be great if they met with each other in the near future,” said Zhu. “President Lee Jay Meong explained to President Trump that he would not sit in the driver’s seat. He asked President Trump to become a peacemaker, and he fell himself to become a heartbeat.” “We do not mind. On the contrary, we want President Trump to lead his leadership to withdraw North Korea to the dialogue table.”
Since Trump returned to power in January, he has repeatedly expressed his hope to restart the talks with Kim. The North Korean leader said on Monday that he still has “good memories” from Trump, but he urged the United States to drop its request to surrender its nuclear arms as a pre -condition for the resumption of long diplomacy.
Trump is expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the Summit of Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, which prompted the media speculation that Kim may return again on the border. Trump is also expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during this meeting.
The Foreign Minister said I had a request from Trump to take the initiative because the world has changed and became “much more dangerous” since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Accordingly, we are just concerned about any possible military skirmishes on the Korean Peninsula,” Zhu said. “So we are forced to explore dialogues with North Korea to reduce military tension, and at least we want to have a hot line.”
He stressed that the nuclear disarmament of the Korean Peninsula is “necessary – we cannot leave it.”
Early on Friday, the South Korean army said it launched warning shots to ignore the North Korean ship that briefly crossed the disputed Western Sea borders between the two countries, amid continuous high tensions.
“I am not amazed at all, but this incident justifies the new government’s policy that we need to have a hot line between armies, reduce military tension and build confidence between the two parties,” said Zhu.
Lee, who headed the left -wing Democratic Party, won early elections in June after the isolation of former President Yun Suk Yol after imposing combat rulings in December. Zhu, a former UN diplomat and ambassador, has been as foreign minister on July 19.
In a speech before the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, he said that South Korea returned to the international community as a natural state after local turmoil and showed its commitment to democracy.
Zhou said he felt “slightly uncomfortable” talking about the previous government compared to the current government, since the election of Yoon. But Zhou recalled that when Yun, who was a public prosecutor, was convinced “would become a deviation.”
Since becoming a minister abroad, Zhou said he was explaining to neighboring countries, including during the visits of Japan and China, that the new government is “determined to peace on the Korean peninsula and also in northeastern Asia.”
He said that the government wants to involve China and has a “very good construction meeting” with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, “but I made it clear that there are certain things that we cannot accept.”
Zhu referred to China’s installation of “something” in the yellow sea that violates the sovereignty of South Korea. “So we made it clear that it is removed. Otherwise, we are thinking about taking appropriate measures,” he said.
Zhu flew to Washington immediately after a huge raid by American immigration officers at the Hyundai Factory in southeast Georgia, detained 475 people, most of whom are South Koreans. It has become a major diplomatic issue between the two countries.
The minister said that Trump intervened and wanted to stay, but they were restricted and handcuffed and his primary goal was to return them to the homeland.
Zhou said that his talks with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio ended with a “silver lining” because obtaining visas for South Korean workers was a long -term problem and “we were able to address this issue directly and we will be able to solve the problem.”
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Edith M. Lid International Affairs of Associated Press for more than half a century.