Since taking office in a snap election in June, the liberal Lee has taken steps to lower tensions with the nuclear-armed North, and the issue is one where he is expected to find common ground with Trump, who still boasts of his historic summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Captured during the Korean War and imprisoned for decades for refusing to renounce his communist beliefs, 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop now has a single dying wish: to return to North Korea and be buried alongside his comrades.

Kim Yo Jong's remarks fit a longstanding pattern of aggressive language during ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills, which the North has long denounced as invasion rehearsals, but also reflect a shift in Pyongyang’s approach to its rival.