South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young stated that adjustments to South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises are inevitable if a U.S.-North Korea summit occurs in the first half of next year. Speaking to reporters after a lecture at the 2025 Youth Festa in southern Seoul, he emphasized that arranging a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a prerequisite for resuming inter-Korean relations. Chung expressed regret over Pyongyang's lack of response at the APEC summit, calling it a miscalculation.
South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young spoke to reporters after a lecture at the 2025 Youth Festa, a nationwide touring talk event for young people held in southern Seoul, on November 8. He stated that adjustments to the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises would be "inevitable" if a U.S.-North Korea summit takes place in the first half of next year. "It is a very sensitive issue, but we cannot move toward a North Korea-U.S. summit while continuing joint South Korea-U.S. military drills," Chung said.
During the lecture, Chung emphasized that arranging a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a prerequisite for resuming long-stalled inter-Korean relations. He expressed regret that the two leaders did not meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju on October 31 and November 1, saying, "It seems Pyongyang miscalculated." Trump had repeatedly expressed his willingness to meet Kim ahead of his visit to Seoul late last month, but Pyongyang did not respond to the overture.
Chung identified the period around Trump's planned visit to Beijing in April as a "critical moment" and urged the Seoul government to work diligently over the next five months—from now through March—to help realize a North Korea-U.S. summit. This comes amid ongoing efforts to revive diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula.