South Korea's Lee urges US to ease

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has urged the United States to ease sanctions on North Korea in exchange for an agreement under which Pyongyang wouldfreeze its nuclear weapons programs, the New York Times reported.



"I believe there is significant value in a trade-off between sanctions — which are not particularly effective anyway — and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology," the newspaper quoted Lee as saying in an interview.



Lee also said that pursuing denuclearization under the current circumstances meant that nothing would be accomplished.



Once a nuclear weapons freeze was secured, trust could be built through reciprocal incentives and concessions to eventually convince North Korea to reduce its nuclear arsenal, he said.



The current stalemate was simply too risky to be allowed to continue, Lee added, citing South Korean assessments that North Korea was now capable of producing, or may already be producing, an additional 10 to 20 nuclear weapons each year.