South Korea’s top diplomat says his boss has asked President Donald Trump to become “a peacemaker” and use his leadership to get North Korea to talks to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

In a strongly worded address at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 29, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said pressure to denuclearize would “violate the constitution” and threaten the state’s existence.

Trump says he has a good relationship with Kim Jong Un and expects to meet 'someday' ahead of White House summit with South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung.

Japan’s government on Monday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after U.N. investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-findings and reparations for the victims.

North Korea’s U.N.-sanctioned nuclear weapons program, along with the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, has been a major driver of those tensions and prompted South Korea to deepen defense ties with the U.S. and Japan.

A senior North Korean diplomat who defected two years ago painted a grim picture of life in the hermit kingdom as he described his disillusionment and escape from the totalitarian regime.