{"text":[[{"start":7.92,"text":"South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has said he is suffering “sleepless nights” as Seoul pushes back in talks with Washington over where to begin deploying the $350bn it has committed to investing in the US."}],[{"start":20.803,"text":"Lee said on Friday that he had rejected elements of a nearly completed agreement for the first project to receive South Korean investment and ordered further discussions, insisting Seoul would invest only in ventures that were “commercially rational”."}],[{"start":34.967,"text":"“We should not be swayed by pressure or coercion,” Lee told a press conference on Friday, before adding: “I’m not saying that the US is doing that. That is simply my principle.”"}],[{"start":45.36,"text":"The $350bn investment, which South Korea agreed to last year in exchange for lower tariffs, is just one of several points of friction between the allies."}],[{"start":56.51,"text":"The US has also put pressure on South Korean chipmakers to expand advanced manufacturing in America, while President Donald Trump has complained that Seoul has not offered concrete support for the war in Iran and scaled back joint drills last month."}],[{"start":70.413,"text":"Lee on Friday ruled out deploying troops to support the US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, after his government said it was reviewing its options, including a possible deployment."}],[{"start":80.754,"text":"The escalating tensions between the two countries come as Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as early as this year. Trump, who met Kim three times during his first term, is expected to travel to China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum."}],[{"start":99.016,"text":"Lee, who also favours reopening dialogue with North Korea but has been frozen out by Kim, said on Friday that Seoul was carrying out “preparatory co-ordination” to facilitate talks between Washington and Pyongyang."}],[{"start":111.55,"text":"In a separate statement on Friday, Lee said there were “faint signs” of movement and “efforts to knock once more on the door of US-North Korean dialogue”."}],[{"start":117.28,"text":"But Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong on Thursday downplayed the prospects for such talks, reiterating in a statement released by state media KCNA that the US must drop its demand that North Korea relinquish its nuclear weapons and reaffirming that the country’s status as a nuclear-armed state was “absolute” and irreversible."}],[{"start":138.818,"text":"She also warned that future US-led military exercises in the region would only encourage the regime to strengthen its military capabilities."}],[{"start":147.157,"text":"“As external threats to our national security intensify, our physical strength will inevitably be reinforced in direct proportion,” she said, adding that the “alarming situation in the region” was driven by “the US’s reckless, hegemonic and provocative attempts to dominate the area”."}],[{"start":163.435,"text":"“Pyongyang is unequivocally stating that they will not denuclearise and any meetings that take place, if they take place, will have to be based on that position,” said John Lee at Korea Risk Group."}],[{"start":174.367,"text":"Choi Eunju, a North Korea researcher at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said Kim Jong Un was “keeping the door to dialogue open”, but added that the North Korean leader would want to walk away from another summit with more than sanctions relief."}],[{"start":187.6,"text":"Kim was attempting to “establish a new negotiating relationship with the US while retaining his nuclear weapons”, he said."}],[{"start":194.918,"text":"North Korea is in a far stronger position than during the Trump-Kim summits in 2018 and 2019, emboldened by closer economic and military ties to Russia and having strengthened its nuclear and missile capabilities."}],[{"start":208.88,"text":"Lee’s government has also signalled flexibility to break the diplomatic deadlock, with unification minister Chung Dong-young saying this week that it would be “impossible to begin any discussion” with demands for denuclearisation before concessions."}],[{"start":225.04,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789729605_9184.mp3"}