Washington and Seoul are coordinating closely on their shared goal of convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, an official with South Korea's presidential office told the Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.

The official was responding to President Donald Trump's comment to reporters that North Korea is "sort of a nuclear power" and has "a lot of nuclear weapons."

Why It Matters

The North's advancing nuclear and ballistic missile programs under the Kim Jong Un regime are a major driver of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, now at their highest in years. Pyongyang maintains these programs are essential for national defense, citing a "provocative" rise in military cooperation between U.S., South Korean, and Japanese forces.

No U.S. administration has recognized the North as a

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