Trump tells Lee he’ll work toward dialogue with North Korea

President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea and President Donald Trump of the US meet for a summit on Sept. 22, 2026, at a hotel in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. (Yonhap)

The leaders of South Korea and the United States agreed to communicate for the sake of establishing lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula in a summit held Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

The Blue House national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, told reporters that Presidents Lee Jae Myung and Donald Trump had met for 30 minutes on Tuesday at 7:20 pm, during which time the two leaders welcomed the “significant progress” in the discussions about strategic investment projects between their two nations. 

Lee and Trump reaffirmed their shared intention to further strengthen cooperation on nuclear submarine fuel, spent fuel reprocessing, shipbuilding, and the transfer of wartime operational control and agreed to continue follow-up consultations, Wi said. 

“President Trump reaffirmed his willingness to engage with North Korea, while the two leaders agreed to maintain close communication and help create the conditions for dialogue, each playing a role as a ‘pacemaker’ and ‘peacemaker’ to lay the groundwork for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Wi said. 

Lee further conveyed to Trump that Thursday’s US-China summit bears great importance for Korea-China relations and the status of the region, and expressed hope for a fruitful meeting. 

The two leaders also discussed potential US-North Korea talks. 

“President Lee made it known to President Trump that he looked forward to his contribution, and that Trump replied that he would,” a high-ranking Blue House official said. 

“There was no talk of concrete communication between the two sides, but President Trump said that he had a ‘good relationship’ with Chairman Kim Jong-un,” the official said. 

“There was also mention of how, because there’s essentially no contact between the two Koreas, it would be nice if the US did something about the situation,” the official said. 

“There’s a good chance that the Group of 20 summit will take place in December, and it’ll be in Miami. President Lee said that it would be nice to golf together during that time,” the official said. 

Numerous bilateral issues were addressed during Tuesday’s summit, including the return of wartime operational control, or OPCON, to Seoul. 

“OPCON was one thing that was discussed at length,” the official said. “The US side explained a lot, and President Trump formed an understanding about the issue.”

Seoul reportedly expressed its hope to meet all the necessary criteria and complete the process in a timely manner. 

Progress in the investment talks is believed to have helped pave the way for the summit. The two countries selected a gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Encinal, Texas, as the first target for Korea’s investment in the US, with Trump expected to announce the project soon. 

The official said that Seoul had not initially pursued a summit due to the uncertainty in the investment talks, but that progress in the talks later led them to revive plans for and hold a meeting between the two leaders.