With Pyongyang ignoring every recent offer of talks, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pitched Washington a direct bargain: ease sanctions on North Korea in exchange for a halt to its nuclear weapons development. He made the case to The New York Times in an interview published Monday, September 21, 2026, shortly before he arrived in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
“I believe there is significant value in a trade-off between sanctions, which are not particularly effective anyway, and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology,” Lee told the newspaper. The interview had been recorded the previous Friday. Lee conceded the deal may be unpalatable, yet said no realistic alternative existed.
The backdrop is stubborn. North Korea has stayed unresponsive to dialogue offers not only from Lee but also from U.S. President Donald Trump, all while building closer ties with Russia, lifting its diplomatic profile, and expanding its arsenal. Against that backdrop, in Lee’s words, outright “aiming for denuclearization” would be unachievable.
He attached a number to the danger. “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, sounding an alarm over the prospect that the North could one day export such weapons.
A Softer Message to the AP
A separate interview with The Associated Press, released the same day, carried a gentler framing. Lee said South Korea and the United States “remain open to engaging in dialogue with North Korea without preconditions.” He has cast himself as a “pacemaker” for renewed contact between Washington and Pyongyang, arguing successful talks would likewise ease the strained relationship between the two Koreas.
“What is needed now is a political decision at the leaders’ level. The two leaders should build trust and work together to identify a common ground, face-to-face,” the AP quoted him as saying.
The Phased Plan
Lee has long pushed an approach that would begin with a freeze on the North’s program and end with its elimination. At the General Assembly this week he planned to press that vision before fellow leaders. “A phased approach of stop, reduction and dismantlement is a practical way of effectively resolving the North Korean nuclear issue,” he was quoted as saying.
The itinerary was tight. A speech at the General Assembly was set for Tuesday, and Lee was then due in Mexico for talks with President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday.
