Trump Considers Lee's Phased Plan on North Korea Nukes
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- Lee Jae Myung proposed a three-step framework — short-term halt to North Korea's nuclear material production and weapons transfers, medium-term measures, and long-term denuclearisation — and said Trump responded that it "could be one way" and he would think carefully about it.
- Trump told Lee it was "time to pay attention" to North Korea and appeared keen to resume dialogue with Kim Jong Un, though Lee said Trump was frustrated over how to proceed.
- Lee argued to Trump that sanctions and pressure alone won't resolve the nuclear issue, noting North Korea produces enough material for 10 to 20 nuclear weapons a year and that Russia–North Korea military cooperation over the war in Ukraine has sharply reduced sanctions effectiveness.
- Lee warned Trump that North Korea's ICBM technology, including re-entry capability, is nearing the final stage, a detail that frames the urgency of the short-term phase of his proposal.
- Trump asked Lee whether South Korea could quickly build 10 U.S. warships; Lee replied it was possible and that Seoul would "do its best," on top of an existing $150 billion shipbuilding investment deal between the two countries.
- Pope Leo told Lee during his Vatican visit that he would "actively consider and pursue" Lee's invitation to visit the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and, if possible, North Korea.
Why it matters: Trump's openness to a phased, step-by-step approach marks a strategic reset from his first-term collapse with Kim at Hanoi in 2019, where disputes over sequencing derailed talks — and Lee is using the G7 window to bundle the North Korea file with a shipbuilding ask and a Vatican channel, betting that Pyongyang's advancing ICBM capability forces a more flexible template than the all-or-nothing denuclearization demand that has failed for three decades.
