Prabowo offers to visit North Korea at Seoul's request
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- Prabowo Subianto said on July 31 that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked him to visit North Korea to open a dialogue, and he replied he would go "with all due respect and willingness."
- Lee's office said South Korea believes Indonesia and other countries with friendly ties to both Seoul and Pyongyang could play a constructive role in fostering peaceful coexistence on the Korean peninsula.
- Foreign Minister Sugiono said in March that Prabowo was willing to mediate in the Iran war to "cool down and de-escalate the situation in the region," establishing a pattern of diplomatic mediation offers.
- The April meeting between Lee and Prabowo in Seoul also covered energy security and an agreement to expand cooperation in defense, beyond the North Korea dialogue request.
- North Korea declared South Korea a "hostile nation" in 2024 and has rebuffed Lee's repeated overtures for dialogue since he took office in 2025, making direct engagement elusive.
- Prabowo framed the offer within Indonesia's non-aligned foreign policy, saying the country "is seen as having no interest in meddling in other countries' domestic affairs," while pursuing equally good relations with China and the United States.
Why it matters: South Korea's direct overtures have been rebuffed by Pyongyang, which declared Seoul a "hostile nation" in 2024. By turning to Indonesia — a non-aligned nation with prior mediation experience, including a March offer to help de-escalate the Iran conflict — Seoul is testing an indirect channel to break the diplomatic deadlock on the peninsula.
