BRUSSELS — In what the Germans themselves are calling a “sleep campaign,” Chancellor Angela Merkel, seeking a fourth term in office in elections on Sept. 24, has moved to highlight her international status by calling for a new round of negotiations with North Korea — including Germany.

Already hailed by some in the era of President Trump as the main defender of the West and its values, Ms. Merkel has stepped forward to suggest a diplomatic alternative to the aggressive language being exchanged between Washington and North Korea.

As ever, she made her point by responding to a question. “If we were asked to join talks, I would say yes immediately,” Ms. Merkel said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday.

She made a parallel to the multilateral talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Those talks were begun by the Europeans and later expanded to include the permanent five member states of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, and chaired by the European Union’s foreign policy chief.