Trump hints at new approach to North Korea’s nuclear programme

South Korea’s president said his US counterpart had told him the ‘time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue’ at the G7 summit.United States President Donald Trump intends to shift his focus to North Korea’s nuclear programme now that Washington has reached an agreement with Iran, South Korea’s president has said.Lee Jae Myung said in a news conference that Trump told him on Friday at a G7 dinner that “the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue,” a comment that could signal renewed US focus on Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Starbucks Korea to shut stores for history training after ‘Tank Day’ furorelist 2 of 4G7 meeting in France: What’s on agenda, who is attending?list 3 of 4Oil prices fall, stocks rally as US, Iran sign framework to end warlist 4 of 4Oil prices rise as Lebanon fighting erupts and Hormuz traffic still slowend of listLee also told Trump that sanctions against North Korea were “ineffective”, pointing to deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.“Even a small amount of assistance from Russia is of great help to North Korea,” Lee said.The two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, and are separated by a Demilitarized Zone through which the border runs. North Korea announced its first nuclear test in 2006 and is believed to have dozens of nuclear weapons.Pyongyang’s foreign outreachKim has recently sought to enhance his standing with his allies, sending troops and munitions to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.He also recently hosted China’s President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang, soon after Xi had held back-to-back summits in Beijing with Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.Neither Pyongyang’s nor Beijing’s official statements mentioned the issue of North Korean denuclearisation – an outcome experts interpreted as tacit acceptance from China.Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since a 2019 summit between Kim and Trump, in Hanoi, collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief.