President Lee Jae Myung is asking Donald Trump to stop demanding immediate denuclearisation. Instead, he wants a freeze. In a New York Times interview, Lee argued that Washington should offer sanctions relief in exchange for Pyongyang halting further development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
Sanctions, Lee said, "are not particularly effective anyway." He told the newspaper that aiming for complete denuclearisation under current circumstances "guarantees that nothing will be accomplished." The strategy would make a freeze the first step, followed by reciprocal incentives to build trust. The end goal remains a reduced arsenal, but the path is now a trade, not an ultimatum.
The timing is not accidental. North Korea has grown bolder as it leans into Moscow and Beijing. Pyongyang has deployed troops and weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. Its economy has shown signs of growth. Lee’s own estimates suggest North Korea can now produce, or may already be producing, an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year. He warned that Pyongyang could eventually be tempted to export nuclear weapons and missiles for money.
Lee believes Trump is uniquely positioned to restart talks with Kim Jong-un. The two men met three times during Trump’s first term, including a 2019 meeting at the inter-Korean border. Those talks failed to produce an agreement. But Lee sees value in that personal history. "Our estimates suggest that North Korea is now capable of producing, or may already be producing, an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year," Lee said, warning that Pyongyang could eventually be tempted to export nuclear weapons and missiles for money.
The proposal has support on the US side. Stephen E. Biegun, Trump’s former special representative for North Korea, recently said Washington could negotiate a "slowing or freezing" of the arsenal. But North Korea has repeatedly signalled it does not intend to give up its nuclear weapons. That makes any freeze deal difficult. Lee nevertheless believes a freeze is the only realistic starting point.
Trump has already scaled back a major US-South Korean military exercise, calling the drills hostile toward Kim. North Korea continues ballistic missile launches near South Korean waters. The next move belongs to Washington. Will Trump accept the freeze proposal, or will he demand the old terms? The answer will shape the security architecture of the entire region.