Trump ‘clearly’ wants dialogue with Pyongyang, says South Korean president

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday it was clear that US President Donald Trump wants dialogue with North Korea, as nuclear negotiations remain deadlocked.

“What is clear is that President Trump wants dialogue, and I am also urging President Trump to engage in dialogue,” Lee told reporters at a press conference at the presidential Blue House.

Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters last month that he plans to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.

The US president also said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. Seoul says there are around 80-120.

North Korea did not clearly respond to Trump’s overtures.

Lee said Friday South Korea was continuing “preliminary coordination efforts” to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the United States, adding that a meeting “remains difficult, … but is not impossible.”

“I cannot say for certain how likely it is, but it is also clear that we must make every possible effort to turn that possibility into reality,” he said.