South Korea rejects US Iran deployment request
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that Donald Trump wants dialogue with North Korea and that Seoul is doing 'preliminary coordination' to help facilitate it, adding that a US-North Korea resumption of talks would be easier than reviving inter-Korean dialogue directly. Trump has said he wants to revive his rapport with Kim Jong Un and plans to meet him later this year, calling it important to 'get along' given North Korea's nuclear arsenal, which he put at 57 'very powerful' weapons (Seoul estimates 80-120 warheads). North Korea, which has drawn closer to Russia in recent years, has not clearly responded to Trump's overture. Separately, a Seoul court this week ordered North Korea to pay about $32.5 million for destroying the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in 2020.
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As it ran
19 September 2026
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