South Korea Facilitates US-North Korea Talks, Rules Out Troop Deployment in Hormuz

South Korea will continue efforts to facilitate talks between the United States and North Korea. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stated on Friday that US President Donald Trump seeks dialogue with Pyongyang and confirmed that Seoul will not be deploying troops to intervene militarily in the Iran conflict. "Trump clearly wants dialogue with North Korea," Lee said. He noted that while such talks are uncertain, they are not impossible. South Korea is continuing "preliminary coordination efforts" to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the US. "The resumption of North Korea-US dialogue would be far easier than resuming inter-Korean dialogue," he stated, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. Trump, aiming to revive the relationship he claims to have established with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term, mentioned plans to meet Kim later this year. The US president emphasized the importance of maintaining a good relationship with Kim, adding that Pyongyang currently possesses 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Seoul has assessed that North Korea has approximately 80-120 nuclear warheads. North Korea, which has received significant support from Russia in recent years, did not provide a clear response to Trump. Inter-Korean relations peaked in 2018 but deteriorated following the collapse of talks between Kim and Trump in February 2019. On Thursday, a court in Seoul ordered North Korea to pay roughly $32.5 million for the destruction of the Inter-Korean Liaison Office building in 2020, which was intended to improve relations but was demolished amid rising tensions. South Korea is also working to strengthen relations with other regional partners, having held the first-ever presidential summit between Seoul and five Central Asian states on Wednesday to enhance economic engagement with the Russian-allied countries. Despite increasing pressure from the US, Lee reiterated multiple times that South Korea will not deploy troops to the Strait of Hormuz. "Let it be clear. There will be no dispatch of troops that will lead to involvement in a conflict. There will be no engagement or involvement in war," Lee stated. The South Korean government faces opposition from segments of Korean society, as protests have emerged in recent weeks against a potential deployment of South Korean military assets to the Strait of Hormuz. Lee added that South Korea will "carry out the minimum necessary activities" to protect its own merchant ships and oil shipping routes.