South Korea's Lee urges US to ease North Korea sanctions to freeze nuclear programs, NYT says

South Korean President Lee said that pursuing North Korean denuclearization under the current circumstances would accomplish nothing.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has urged the United States to ease sanctions on North Korea in exchange for an agreement under which Pyongyang would freeze its nuclear weapons programs, The New York Times reported. 

"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," the newspaper quoted Lee as saying in an interview.

Lee also said that pursuing denuclearization under the current circumstances would accomplish nothing. Once a nuclear weapons freeze was secured, trust could be built through reciprocal incentives and concessions to eventually convince North Korea to reduce its nuclear arsenal, he said.

The current stalemate was simply too risky to be allowed to continue, Lee said, citing South Korean assessments that North Korea was now capable of producing, or may already be producing, an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year.

"Once it believes it has accumulated enough nuclear weapons and missiles to guarantee its survival, it will be tempted to export them to make money," he said. "That will be a truly dangerous moment."

Trump, Kim Jong Un set to have talks

South Korean officials have said that they are moving away from a "denuclearization first" policy in favor ‌of a "peace first" approach towards North Korea, with Lee pledging ‌last year to respect North Korea's system and seek peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang.

Relations between the Koreas remain frozen, however. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has abandoned Pyongyang's reunification ​policy, describing ​the South ⁠as its most hostile state and ordering stronger frontline defenses.

US President Donald Trump is seeking to hold a new meeting with Kim, and the South Korean president has said that he is keen to see the talks happen.

Lee intends to present his vision for peace and coexistence on the Korean Peninsula to the United Nations this week during the UN General Assembly.