North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be anticipating the re-election of former U.S. President Donald Trump, according to observers, Tuesday, raising speculation about a revival of the Kim-Trump bromance if the Republican candidate returns to the White House.
They suggest that the North, hoping for Trump’s return, has already laid out a precondition for nuclear negotiations — the suspension of South Korea-U.S. combined military drills — through a state media commentary released on Tuesday.
With the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election just about 100 days away, Trump is likely to compete with his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign, Sunday.
Amid the tumultuous campaign trail, a commentary released by North Korea’s mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), stated, “Even if any administration takes office in the U.S., the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change, and, accordingly, we do not care about this.”
The commentary also mentioned Trump’s remarks on his friendly relations with the North Korean leader.
“Amid the full-dress presidential election race in the U.S., Trump, who has been officially confirmed as a candidate for the Republican Party, said in his speech of acceptance for candidate that ‘I got along with them and it is nice to get along with someone who has a lot of nuclear weapons and otherwise,’ thus buoying a lingering desire for the prospects of the DPRK-U.S. relations,” KCNA said.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
KCNA added, “It is true that Trump, when he was president, tried to reflect the special personal relations between the heads of states in the relations between states, but he did not bring about any substantial positive change.”
Urging the U.S. to make a proper choice in its relations with North Korea, KCNA said, “He that puts on a public gown must put off a private person. The foreign policy of a state and personal feelings must be strictly distinguished.”
The commentary also included fresh criticism of the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills, mentioning the recent deployment of the U.S. Navy`s F/A-18 Super Hornets for combined aerial exercises with the SOUTH KOREAN AIR FORCE.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, noted that the commentary seems to be the first instance of the North publicly addressing the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, and this is seen as a direct reaction to Trump’s recent remarks about North Korea.
“Contrary to its remarks of ‘we do not care who becomes the U.S. president,’ Pyongyang appears to be closely monitoring how the presidential candidates address North Korea,” Park told The Korea Times.
“The commentary hinted at two things: first, North Korea prefers Trump to Harris; and second, the mention of Super Hornets and the reference of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills as ‘war rehearsals’ indicates that the North will demand the suspension of combined exercises as a precondition to nuclear talks with Trump,” Park explained.
In his campaign rallies, Trump has been flaunting his friendship with the North Korean leader, using it to suggest that he is capable of maintaining good relations with world dictators.
During a speech in Michigan, Saturday, Trump claimed that he invited Kim to watch a Yankees baseball game, without specifying when he delivered the message.
“I used to tell him (Kim), ‘Why don’t you do something else, just relax. Let’s go to a baseball game. I’ll show you what a baseball game is,’” Trump said.
In another speech at the Republican National Convention last Thursday, the former president claimed that the North Korean leader probably misses him.
Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea at Kyungnam University, believes that Trump will seek direct engagement with Kim once more and could be prepared to meet the North Korean leader’s demands to restart negotiations.
“Halting the joint exercises is an easier negotiation card than withdrawing United States Forces Korea (USFK) troops. There’s a high possibility that Trump will respond to that,” Lim said.
“Plus, Trump has already expressed skepticism about the joint drills.”
During his presidency, Trump described the joint military exercises as “expensive war games” for which the U.S. bears the majority of the fibancial burden. Following his summit with Kim in Singapore in June 2018, he announced that the U.S. would suspend the drills.
Lim believes that if re-elected, Trump will likely aim to deter North Korea’s nuclear programs to the extent that they do not pose direct threats to the U.S.
“Trump’s approach to North Korea will concentrate on making sure that North Korea’s nuclear arms do not pose direct threats to the U.S., rather than achieving complete denuclearization. This means he may be less concerned about the nuclear threats posed to South Korea,” the expert said.
On the other hand, Lim noted that the Democratic front-runner’s approach to North Korea will be much more predictable, given Harris’s limited foreign policy portfolio compared to Biden or Trump.
Harris, a former prosecutor, has rarely outlined specific policies toward Pyongyang.
In August 2019, Harris said she “won’t be exchanging love letters with Kim Jong-un,” in response to a question from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She also stated, “Ultimately, we can’t accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.”
“If Harris is elected, she is likely to continue many of Biden’s strategies toward North Korea, such as deterring nuclear threats through trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan,” Lim said.
