South Korea Hopes Trump Will Intervene on the Korean Peninsula

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hopes US President Donald Trump can help him make peace with North Korea. Lee wants Trump to intervene as he did in resolving the Middle East conflict. The United States and Iran are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding on Friday (19/6) to end their war. Speculation has emerged that the Trump administration will then turn its attention to North Korea. Trump fuelled this speculation shortly after announcing the deal with Iran by posting a photo on social media of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their 2018 summit in Singapore. The South Korean presidential office said in a statement on Wednesday (17/6) that during a meeting at the G7 summit in France, Trump asked Lee about developments in inter-Korean relations. During the conversation, “President Lee requested that he (Trump) take the lead in achieving a peaceful resolution to the North Korea issue, just as he resolved the conflict in the Middle East,” the presidential office said. “President Trump expressed his commitment to working towards a resolution of the North Korea issue,” it added. Lee has taken a softer approach towards North Korea, unlike his more hardline predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. However, Pyongyang has rejected his approach. Pyongyang officially designates Seoul as its greatest enemy and has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state. According to North Korea experts, the chances of a meeting between Kim and Trump are low. “From North Korea’s perspective, there is practically no reason to meet with the United States,” Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.