Seoul watches Trump-Kim summit push as Pyongyang gives guarded response

South Korea is cautiously navigating a renewed push for United States-North Korea dialogue as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to revive summit diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, even as Pyongyang continues to flex its military capabilities and China urges Washington to abandon what it calls a hostile policy toward North Korea.

Trump appears to be seeking to revive summit diplomacy with Kim, building on their meetings during his first term. He told reporters Wednesday that he expects to meet with the North Korean leader later this year.

The U.S. president also offered an unusually specific assessment of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, saying Pyongyang possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. The figure is substantially lower than Seoul’s latest assessment. Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers Thursday that North Korea is estimated to possess between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads, while the exact number is difficult to determine.

Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, responded to Trump’s remarks Wednesday in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, saying she was unaware of any recent communication between Trump and Kim, but acknowledged that the two leaders had an “excellent” personal relationship.

Her remarks did not signal a direct acceptance of Trump’s overture, but South Korean officials said they appeared to leave some room for renewed dialogue while reiterating that Pyongyang’s conditions for talks have yet to be met.

That possibility was complicated further Thursday afternoon, when North Korea fired more than 10 rounds from 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers toward the East Sea.

It was the North’s latest weapons provocation in just over a week, following launches on Aug. 6 and 12 that were seen as protests against Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), an annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise that is currently underway.

Cheong Wa Dae urged Pyongyang to immediately halt its ballistic missile launches, calling them serious violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The developments have drawn particular attention in Seoul after Trump ordered a reduction of the ongoing UFS joint drills in an apparent attempt to create additional space for engagement with Pyongyang.

“We share President Trump’s commitment and efforts and have great respect for his decision to create conditions for dialogue toward peace on the Korean Peninsula, even at the cost of scaling back joint exercises and field training drills,” Lee Jae Myung wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday.

Lee said the move could help build trust between Washington and Pyongyang, resume dialogue and ultimately contribute to establishing a stable peace framework.

The development also aligns, at least in part, with Lee’s broader push to replace the peninsula’s decades-old armistice system with a peace framework. In his National Liberation Day address on Aug. 15, Lee proposed dialogue with North Korea aimed at formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War and establishing peaceful coexistence, while also calling for measures to prevent further advances in Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities. The war was halted with an armistice in 1953, not ended with a peace treaty.

China, meanwhile, is pressing Washington from a different direction.

During a two-day visit to Seoul, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday and President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday, as Seoul sought Beijing’s cooperation in promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and encouraging renewed dialogue. Wang and Lee were also believed to have discussed the prospects for another Trump-Kim meeting.

While Cho called on China to play a constructive role in advancing peace on the peninsula, the top Chinese envoy suggested that the fundamental way to resolve tensions is for the U.S. to abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea — a stance that closely echoes Pyongyang’s longstanding demand that Washington change its approach before meaningful negotiations can resume.

Under the circumstances, the foreign and unification ministries offered cautious assessments, emphasizing that the latest developments do not yet amount to an agreement to resume talks or advance a peace framework on the peninsula.

“Trump made the decision on his own to create conditions for dialogue, rather than at Seoul’s request,” a foreign ministry official said, adding that Kim Yo-jong’s remarks suggested that the possibility of renewed talks remains open, potentially creating “a virtuous cycle between inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea dialogue.”

A unification ministry official described Trump’s remarks for a summit and decision to scale back Seoul-Washington joint drills as sharing “the same underlying objective as Seoul’s efforts to transition from the armistice system to a peace framework.”

The official said Kim Yo-jong’s response to Trump’s remarks partly indicated that North Korea remains interested in dialogue with the U.S.

In an official statement, the ministry expressed hope that North Korea “will seize the opportunity and join efforts so that President Trump’s bold decision can lead to a new chapter of peace, including the resumption of dialogue between the North Korean and U.S. leaders within this year.”