South Korea says US-North Korea talks possible, rules out Hormuz deployment

South Korea will continue efforts to facilitate talks between Washington and Pyongyang.South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that United States President Donald Trump wants dialogue with Pyongyang and confirmed Seoul will not be deploying troops to intervene militarily in the Iran war.“Trump clearly ⁠wants dialogue ⁠with North ⁠Korea,” Lee said on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How South Korea finds itself trapped in the US-Iran warlist 2 of 3South Korea embraces Central Asian leaders, looking to boost regional cloutlist 3 of 3Seoul court orders North Korea to pay $32.5m for blowing up officeend of listHe added that while such talks are uncertain, they are not impossible.South Korea was continuing “preliminary coordination efforts” to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the US.“The resumption of North Korea-US dialogue would be far easier than resuming inter-Korean dialogue,” he said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term, said he plans to meet Kim later this year.The US president said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.Seoul has assessed that Pyongyang has about 80-120 nuclear warheads.North Korea, which has secured critical backing from Russia in recent years, did not clearly respond to Trump.Inter-Korean relations reached a high in 2018 but deteriorated after talks between Kim and Trump collapsed in February 2019.On Thursday, a court in Seoul ordered North Korea to pay roughly $32.5m for blowing up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office building in 2020. The office was intended to improve relations on the peninsula but was destroyed amid rising tensions between the neighbours.South Korea is working to strengthen relations with other regional partners. The first-ever presidential summit between Seoul and five Central Asian states was held on Wednesday, aiming to establish deeper economic engagement with the Russian-allied countries.