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South Korea backs Trump’s North Korea outreach, but warns against being sidelined

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South Korea supports US President Donald Trump’s efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, ‌but aims to ensure its security posture is not weakened and that Seoul is not sidelined, according to South Korea’s national security adviser.

Seoul believed the resumption of talks between the US and North Korea should focus on progress on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue and must not undermine the country’s security readiness, Wi Sung-lac told reporters on Friday.

“One point to keep in mind is ⁠the need to coordinate with the United States to ensure that any resumption of US-North Korea dialogue leads ‌to substantive progress on the North Korean nuclear issue, alongside efforts to establish a peace regime on the Korean peninsula,” Wi said.

To achieve these aims, policy coordination and ‌communication between South Korea and the United States were more important than ever, he said.

Wi ⁠cited Trump’s order earlier ⁠this month to substantially scale back major joint military drills between the two allies, saying the US president was signalling a willingness ‌to engage with North Korea.
US soldiers set up a floating bridge during joint US-South Korean military exercises in Yeoncheon, South Korea on August 20. Photo: Yonhap/AFP
US soldiers set up a floating bridge during joint US-South Korean military exercises in Yeoncheon, South Korea on August 20. Photo: Yonhap/AFP

At the same time, Seoul should ensure it was not “sidelined” in Washington’s efforts to restart talks with Pyongyang, Wi said.

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