South Korean leader says he told Trump sanctions on North are ‘ineffective’
Cooperation between North Korea and Russia has diminished the effectiveness of sanctions, says Lee Jae Myung.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference on his G7 trip at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on June 19, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Jung Yeon-je)
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SEOUL: Closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have rendered sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programme “ineffective”, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday (Jun 19).
Lee said he told US counterpart Donald Trump the sanctions were not working when the two leaders met at a G7 summit in France this week and discussed the long-running standoff between South Korea and its nuclear-armed northern neighbour.
“I told him sanctions and pressure (against the North) are ineffective,” Lee told reporters in Seoul.
“The effectiveness of sanctions has diminished due to military cooperation between North Korea and Russia stemming from the war in Ukraine.
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“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 demilitarised zone through which the border runs.
Trump signed a deal while he was in France aimed at ending the war in the Middle East and speculation has been rife that his administration will next shift its focus to North Korea.
On Sunday, Trump posted an uncaptioned photo of him and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taken at a meeting in Singapore in 2018.
Lee said Trump had told him in the French town of Evian that “the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue”.
“IN LOVE”
Kim 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.
Trump met Kim three times during his first term – once declaring they were “in love” – as he pushed to hammer out a long-coveted deal on denuclearisation.
But no tangible progress has been made.
Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was “100 per cent” open to a meeting. The offer has gone unanswered.
The US president even bucked decades of US policy by stating North Korea was “sort of a nuclear power”.
Source: AFP/ec
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