This photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what it says is a test-fire of an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Talks between Washington and Pyongyang are the only realistic way to halt North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal, a senior South Korean official said Friday, while acknowledging that negotiations would likely amount to tacit recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
“Right at this moment, North Korea is strengthening its nuclear capabilities. And inter-Korean exchange is at a standstill,” the official told reporters, according to Yonhap News Agency and the Korea Herald.
“What engine is there to move this forward, other than the resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang?”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to criticism that renewed U.S.-North Korea engagement could freeze rather than eliminate Kim Jong Un’s weapons program and sideline Seoul in the process.
“North Korea has said it will not meet President [Donald] Trump if denuclearization is on the table, so if dialogue does take place, it would amount — even if only by force of circumstances — to North Korea gaining some form of recognition of its nuclear possession,” the official said.
Full denuclearization remains the goal, the official said, using a highway metaphor: “The nuclear car is speeding ahead. You have to make it stop first before you can put it in reverse. You cannot reverse while it is still moving.”
The remarks reflect the approach of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has pushed to revive engagement after years of frozen relations.
In his Liberation Day address on Aug. 15, Lee proposed that the two Koreas open talks on formally ending the Korean War, which halted in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Thursday that direct U.S.-North Korea talks are “the first gateway to stopping North Korea’s nuclear program” and suggested they could expand into a multilateral format including South Korea and China.
Trump has said he retains a good relationship with Kim and expects to meet him again this year.
Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said she is unaware of any current communication between the two, while noting her brother holds “good memories” of Trump. She has separately criticized Lee by name over inter-Korean policy.
North Korea has demanded that Washington accept it as a nuclear power and has rejected talks aimed at denuclearization. This month’s annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with the U.S. was shortened to five days from 11.
“We urge the North not to distort our commitment to peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the official said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.