Seoul urges nuclear freeze, eased sanctions on North

SEOUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends new weapon tests at an undisclosed location. (AFP Photo)

Washington should seek a freeze, rather than the immediate elimination, of North Korea’s nuclear program and offer sanctions relief in return, South Korea’s leader said in a New York Times interview.

President Lee Jae Myung has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol since taking power in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.

Despite long-running U.N. sanctions, North Korea has enshrined its status as a nuclear-armed state in law, with its leaders repeatedly declaring its atomic arsenal permanent and irreversible.

At the same time, Pyongyang has secured critical backing from Russia alongside its traditional ally China, leaving it with less to gain from renewed diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“I believe there is significant value in a trade-off between sanctions, which are not particularly effective anyway, and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology,” Lee was quoted as saying in an interview published on Sept. 22.

“Aiming for denuclearization under the current circumstances,” Lee told the U.S. paper, “guarantees that nothing will be accomplished.”

The South Korean president previously said that freezing Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities at current levels by suspending new production and preventing nuclear materials being imported would itself be “a gain.”

Critics say such an approach risks tacitly accepting North Korea as a nuclear-armed state while allowing Pyongyang to secure sanctions relief without ultimately giving up its arsenal.