Overview

• From the UN General Assembly podium, Lee said Seoul respects the North’s political system, rejects unification by absorption, and has no intent to take hostile actions.
• He outlined a three-step path—freeze, reduction, and complete relinquishment of nuclear arms—while acknowledging near-term denuclearization is unrealistic.
• Lee cited confidence-building steps already taken, including halting anti-Pyongyang leaflets and propaganda broadcasts, and pledged to lower military tensions and rebuild trust.
• He offered for South Korea to facilitate U.S.–North Korea normalization and summarized his push as “exchanges, normalization and denuclearization” to end the peninsula’s Cold War.
• Positioning Seoul for a larger global role, he backed adding more non-permanent UN Security Council seats and said South Korea has reengaged internationally after its domestic crisis, while Seoul separately voiced concern over Russia–North Korea military cooperation during its month presiding over the Council.