Overview
- President Lee publicly offered direct talks with Pyongyang to formally end the long-running war and to discuss practical steps to halt North Korea's nuclear progress.
- He pledged to pursue a shift from the current armistice toward a peace regime and said the government will build a multilayered security system and take preemptive measures to prevent crises.
- The administration reiterated a policy of respectful engagement that rejects forced absorption of the North, but Pyongyang has so far not responded to Seoul's repeated conciliatory gestures.
- Lee framed the initiative as part of broader regional outreach, citing deeper cooperation with partners such as Japan on supply chains, energy and advanced technologies to support stability.
- The proposal is an active diplomatic offer rather than a negotiated deal, and it builds on a post-1953 reality in which the peninsula remains technically at war and North Korean nuclearization is a central barrier to formal peace.