South Korea’s president said he will pursue a three-phase "denuclearisation plan" to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, seeking to freeze Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes in the first stage.
In the second and final stages, it will seek to "reduce and dismantle" North Korea's nuclear programme, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing an official summary of an interview ahead of his visit to Tokyo with Shigeru Ishiba, Japan’s prime minister.
Seoul is pursuing the strategy through active efforts for talks with Pyongyang based on its "solid" alliance with the US, said Lee to the Japanese daily news Yomiuri Shimbun.
It was the first time that Lee, who took office in early June, announced such a plan to persuade North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons programme.
The North has already rebuffed Lee's peace overtures and offers for dialogue.
Maintaining close coordination with its longtime ally, the US, Lee said that Seoul will actively pursue inter-Korean dialogue to establish better conditions for the goal.
After holding summit talks with Ishiba, Lee will fly to Washington to hold his maiden summit with US President Donald Trump next Monday.
On relations with Japan, Lee said his government will uphold past agreements on the issues of wartime forced labour and former women slaves for Japanese troops, euphemistically called "comfort women."
"It is very difficult for the South Korean people to accept these agreements," he said. "But as they are promises made between countries, it would be undesirable to overturn them."
Lee, who previously criticised the agreements, said that as a president, he intends to honour them in the interest of bilateral ties.
Describing China as "a close country, inseparable geographically and economically," Lee said that Seoul seeks to cooperate where possible and compete where necessary, based on comprehensive considerations between the two neighbours.
