South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung says he told U.S. President Donald Trump that sanctions on North Korea have become ineffective. Lee attributes the reduced impact to growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which he links to Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to Lee, this expanded cooperation undermines the sanctions’ ability to constrain North Korea’s activities. The South Korean leader presents the assessment as a direct point made to the United States, arguing that current sanctions do not achieve their intended pressure under the changed regional security environment. Both outlets report the same core claim: Lee argues that sanctions’ effectiveness has diminished because North Korea and Russia are cooperating militarily, reducing the leverage that sanctions are meant to provide. The reports do not provide new details on specific sanctions measures or any immediate policy changes, focusing instead on Lee’s assessment of why the strategy is no longer producing expected results.