Prime Minister Kim Min-seok of South Korea speaks to correspondents at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington on March 13, 2026. (pool photo)
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he discussed issues surrounding North Korea with US President Donald Trump during a 20-minute conversation on Friday.
Kim said he’d made a concrete proposal to Trump about improving North Korea-US relations, adding that Trump seemed “very intrigued” and asked his aides to “look further into” the proposal.
“A considerable portion of the conversation consisted of [President Trump] asking my opinion about the North Korean issue,” Kim told foreign correspondents at a briefing held at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington on Friday.
Kim explained that he’d been meeting with Paula White-Cain, a minister and head of the White House Faith Office, on Friday when she arranged a meeting with Trump at the Oval Office.
“I entered the Oval Office with Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha and spoke with Trump without an interpreter for about 20 minutes,” Kim said.
Kim said he’d told Trump that Korean President Lee Jae Myung “often describes him as the only leader capable of resolving the Korean Peninsula issue.”
Trump then had an aide bring a photograph taken with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom and continued to discuss the North Korean issue.
“Trump said he stays on good terms with Kim Jong-un and asked whether I thought the North Korean leader wants dialogue with him or the US,” the prime minister said.
In response, the prime minister conveyed that he thinks Trump is “the only Western leader who Kim Jong-un will speak with,” and told the US president that he is a “leader who can serve as a peacemaker and resolve issues on the Korean Peninsula.”
As for North Korea-US relations, Kim Min-seok “expressed the opinion that more contact and dialogue are needed to keep the slim window of opportunity open.”
Kim explained that “North Korea’s recent rhetoric has improved to a certain extent, moving from language about there being ‘no reason we can’t meet’ to ‘no reason we need to have poor relations.’”
Kim did not disclose the details of his concrete proposal for improving North Korea-US relations.
“We have an idea about what cards we can play to reach a solution. President Trump seemed very intrigued about that,” he said.
“Trump asked his aides to look further into several aspects of my idea and to review measures on North Korea.”
Kim said that before leaving the country, he would deliver an English-language memo summarizing the positions and opinions he had presented orally.
In regard to the timing of a North Korea-US summit, Trump said a meeting with Kim Jong-un would be great, but that such a meeting may or may not happen around Trump’s upcoming visit to China.
According to Kim, Trump seemed more concerned about resuming dialogue in general than about linking that to any particular event.
Kim said that the day before, he had met not only with US Vice President JD Vance but also with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the White House. During their meeting, Greer addressed the investigations the US has launched against a total of 16 trade partners, including Korea, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Greer reportedly clarified that a number of countries are being investigated and that Korea is not being singled out.
“Our government’s position is that we must not be placed at a disadvantage to other countries. The US trade representative said that Korea might end up with an advantage and suggested that we remain in close communication,” Kim said.
By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]