South Korean President Lee Jae Myung requested U.S. President Donald Trump during the G7 summit in France to take the lead in peacefully resolving tensions with North Korea [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The summit ran from June 16-19, 2026, with Lee and Trump holding multiple brief exchanges where Trump asked about current inter-Korean relations [1, 2, 3, 4, 6]. Trump responded that he would work to address the North Korea issue and expressed interest in restarting dialogue with Pyongyang [1, 7, 3, 8, 4, 6].
At a press conference in Seoul on June 19, Lee said sanctions against North Korea are ineffective due to military cooperation between North Korea and Russia tied to the Ukraine war. He told Trump, "I told him sanctions and pressure (against the North) are ineffective. The effectiveness of sanctions has diminished due to military cooperation between North Korea and Russia stemming from the war in Ukraine. Even a small amount of assistance from Russia is of great help to North Korea" [9]. Trump reportedly said that "the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue" [9, 8, 10, 11].
North Korea, under Kim Jong Un, has increased its nuclear capabilities, nearing maturity in intercontinental ballistic missile technology and producing enough nuclear material for 10 to 20 warheads [7, 10]. Trump met Kim three times during his first presidential term, including the 2018 Singapore summit, the 2019 Hanoi summit, and a 2019 meeting at the inter-Korean DMZ — the Hanoi summit collapsed without agreement [1, 3, 10]. Trump publicly signaled openness to renewed talks with Kim, posting a 2018 photo with him on social media in mid-June 2026 [1, 9, 7, 3, 8, 10, 11, 5].
Lee proposed a phased approach to denuclearization balancing denuclearization goals with building dialogue and trust [7]. US officials reiterated that denuclearization remains the core US policy despite signals of dialogue readiness. White House official David Wilezol said, "If Kim Jong Un is willing to talk, the Trump administration is ready. But denuclearization of North Korea remains the top US policy goal" [7].
North Korea has strongly condemned the G7 calls for denuclearization as "an overreach," with Kim Yo-jong declaring, "Nuclear possession is a core interest of North Korea, and denuclearization is an absolute red line" [7]. The regime has also strengthened ties with Russia and China, including military cooperation with Russia in the Ukraine war and hosting Xi Jinping in Pyongyang [9, 10, 11, 5].
Lee and Trump also discussed other topics such as shipbuilding cooperation and trilateral collaboration between South Korea, the US, and Japan. Lee said Trump asked if Korea could quickly build 10 US military ships, to which he replied Korea could "definitely do that and will go all out" [6]. The two leaders agreed on the importance of close Korea-US-Japan cooperation [6]. Lee later posted on social media about Trump inviting him and his wife to play golf, joking about beginning preparations for the visit, calling it a "pinky promise" [12].
The summit meetings and discussions highlighted increasing urgency on the North Korean issue. Lee’s June 19 press conference in Seoul fully revealed his talks with Trump about shifting US focus to North Korea and the diminishing effectiveness of sanctions [9, 7, 10, 11].
