South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said President Donald Trump intends to shift his administration’s focus to North Korea following the conclusion of a U.S.-Iran agreement aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
The remarks came Friday (June 19, 2026) after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France. Lee said Trump told him the time had come to return attention to North Korea after the Iran agreement was reached.
Lee and Trump met during a dinner held at the G7 summit in Evian, where North Korea was among the topics discussed between the two leaders.
According to Lee, he told Trump that sanctions and pressure campaigns against Pyongyang are no longer effective. “I told him that sanctions and pressure are not effective,” Lee said, according to AFP.
Lee added that the impact of sanctions has weakened due to expanding military cooperation between North Korea and Russia since the war in Ukraine began. “The effectiveness of sanctions has diminished because of military cooperation between North Korea and Russia stemming from the war in Ukraine,” he said.
He also noted that even limited Russian assistance could significantly benefit Pyongyang. “Even small amounts of assistance from Russia are very helpful to North Korea,” Lee said.
Speculation about a renewed U.S. focus on North Korea intensified after Trump posted a photo of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shortly after announcing the Iran deal. The image, posted without caption, showed the two leaders during their 2018 summit in Singapore.
The post fueled speculation that the Trump administration may be preparing to reengage with Pyongyang on its nuclear program.
North and South Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The two countries are still divided by the Demilitarized Zone, which serves as the heavily fortified border separating the peninsula.
