Seoul must guard against being sidelined in U.S.-North Korea talks

Columns South Korea must restore trust with Washington to ensure its security interests are protected in any renewed U.S.-North Korea negotiations. A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. AP/YONHAP Jo Dong-ho The author is a professor emeritus at Ewha Womans University and former president of the Institute for National Security Strategy. The prospect of a U.S.-North Korea summit is returning. Since mid-August, U.S. President Donald Trump has stressed his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and voiced hopes of meeting him. On Aug. 17, Trump posted on Truth Social a composite image of Kim calling him. On Aug. 24, he posted three photographs of himself with Kim from their Singapore and Panmunjom meetings, omitting their failed Hanoi summit in February 2019. Trump even abruptly scaled back South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, citing his 'very good relationship' with Kim. Pyongyang pretends to dismiss Trump's overtures, but they must be tempting. In an Aug. 19 statement, Kim Yo-jong, director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers' Party, said she knew nothing of Washington's dialogue proposal but added that relations between the leaders 'remain excellent.' A summit could happen at any time. The National Intelligence Service gave the same assessment to the National Assembly on Sept. 1. The key question is no longer whether a summit will happen, but what it would mean for South Korea. There is no guarantee that U.S.-North Korea talks would reflect Seoul's interests. South Korea's interests could instead be pushed aside because the North Korean threat facing Washington is not necessarily that confronting Seoul. Trump's willingness to use joint exercises as a conciliatory gesture and Kim's 'hostile two-state' policy toward South Korea deepen those concerns. Alliances are not only necessary to prevent war. They are more important in building peace. The stronger the South Korea-U.S. alliance, the harder it is for Washington to neglect Seoul's interests in negotiations with Pyongyang and for North Korea to exclude South Korea. President Lee Jae Myung said in his Liberation Day address that he would elicit a response from Pyongyang and create a stable Korean Peninsula. Yet Seoul alone cannot even bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table. Lee's description of South Korea as a 'pacemaker' and the United States as the 'peacemaker,' departing from the Moon Jae-in administration's 'Korean Peninsula driver' theory, appears to acknowledge this reality. Yet today's alliance does not seem strong enough for Washington to consult Seoul fully on U.S.-North Korea relations or fully reflect South Korean interests. National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac was right to warn that renewed talks must not weaken South Korea's security posture or leave Seoul sidelined. But his warning also suggests unease about relations with Washington. Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha's unusual temporary return to Seoul was telling. The Blue House said disagreements between countries are inevitable even among allies and that having none would be abnormal. It also said Kang had conveyed her impressions from Washington. Differences have emerged over intelligence sharing on North Korea, trade, South Korean investment in the United States, nuclear cooperation, access to the demilitarized zone, restructuring of the United Nations Command and the Iran war. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks about a nuclear facility in Kusong symbolized the gap. Seoul said his comments were based on public information, while Washington viewed them as an intelligence leak. Whatever the facts, the episode raised serious questions about trust in handling sensitive intelligence. Washington restricted some intelligence sharing with its ally. The restriction remains unresolved. The disagreements are separate issues. But if Washington sees them as a pattern, it may begin questioning how much Seoul values the alliance. On Aug. 17, Politico quoted an assessment that 'it seems that Trump just wants to punch South Korea.' Two days later, during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Seoul, a reporter asked whether the Trump administration regarded the Lee government as pro-China. Lee said on Monday that South Korea would serve as a pacemaker to help restart U.S.-North Korea dialogue. However, under current conditions, Seoul cannot be certain Washington would not abandon South Korean interests at a summit. The Ministry of Unification hopes to expand U.S.-North Korea talks into four-way dialogue involving the two Koreas, the United States and China. Seoul must first ensure its concerns reach the negotiating table. An alliance cannot survive on goodwill alone. Each side must have reasons to need the other, particularly under a Trump administration that assesses alliances through costs and benefits. Abandonment does not begin with a declaration that an ally will be discarded. It begins when Washington gradually assigns less weight to South Korea's interests in its strategic calculations. This does not mean South Korea must curry favor with Washington or follow it unconditionally. Precisely to assert its national interests confidently, Seoul needs a solid alliance foundation. South Korea must demonstrate that it is an indispensable strategic partner and create incentives for Washington to maintain and strengthen the alliance. An 'irreplaceable Korea' should be the country's goal in relations with the United States and the source of strength sustaining the alliance. Achieving that status must begin, naturally, by fully restoring the trust that has already begun to crack. This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.