South Korea’s Lee says Trump open to considering phased approach to North Korea nuclear issue

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to consider his proposal to prioritise halting North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes in the short term, while keeping denuclearisation as a longer-term objective.
Lee said Trump told him on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France it was "time to pay attention" to North Korea and appeared keen to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, ⁠though was frustrated over how to proceed.

"Without giving up on de-nuclearisation, I explained that we should go step by step — short term, medium term and long term — rather than immediately," Lee told a press briefing after returning from France.
Lee said the short-term goal should be stopping North Korea from producing additional nuclear material, transferring weapons or materials overseas, and further developing intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
Trump responded that it "could be one way" and that he would think carefully about it, Lee said.
Lee said he also told Trump that sanctions and pressure alone would not resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, as Pyongyang already appeared to have a certain number of nuclear weapons and was continuing to produce enough nuclear material to make around 10 to 20 nuclear weapons a year.
Its ICBM technology was also nearing ⁠the final stage, including re-entry capability, Lee said, adding that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia over the war in Ukraine had sharply reduced the effectiveness of sanctions.

-Reuters