Kim Tae-hyo, 1st Vice Director of the National Security Office, said on the 3rd that if former U.S. President Donald Trump is elected in November, “the U.S. security umbrella could be weakened,” but that “if security insecurity in conflict zones increases, opportunities for Korea’s defense industry exports could increase.” Regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, he said, “I feel like I have a lot to teach them, as they are the staff who advised Harris as vice president.” It is unusual for a current high-ranking official in the diplomatic security department of the presidential office to publicly assess and forecast the presidential election situation in an ally country.
At the Sejong Open Forum held at the Sejong Institute in Jongno-gu, Seoul on this day, Vice Minister Kim stated that if candidate Trump is re-elected, “there is a possibility that he will come forward to discuss the deployment of strategic assets that the US provides to us from a cost perspective.” This means that the level of US extended deterrence to respond to North Korean threats could be weaker than that of the current Joe Biden administration. He added that “if candidate Trump is elected, crisis and opportunity factors will extremely coexist,” and that “a more daring and sophisticated strategy is needed.”
Vice Minister Kim predicted that former President Trump may still desire a summit with North Korea, but he will not negotiate as he did in the past due to the “no deal” in Hanoi, Vietnam in February 2019, when the second summit ended empty-handed. He also said that “the Kim Jong-un leadership will use Trump’s showmanship to employ a strategy of pro-US and anti-South Korea tactics.”
However, Vice Minister Kim explained that even in the second Trump administration, “the existing real-time sharing system for North Korean missile warning information, the multi-year trilateral training plan, and cyber cooperation, etc., Camp David achievements that the U.S. absolutely needs in the security field, will not be touched.” He cited defense industry exports as an opportunity factor due to the increase in conflict zones, and predicted that Korean products could enjoy windfall profits due to pressure on Chinese auto parts and batteries. Vice Minister Kim said, “In terms of defense industry, Korea is far superior in ship repair and maintenance, so the U.S. strongly wants our help.”
Vice Minister Kim said of the Harris camp, “It takes time for (staff) to get used to the job, so I think it would be better for us to deal with allies if we bring in veterans from outside to create a combination of heavyweight members.”
Regarding the argument raised by some in Korea for its own nuclear armament, he emphasized, “The Western world’s nonproliferation regime is so strong that (self-nuclear armament) is impossible,” and “The fastest way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue is for North Korea to change its mind, for us to prepare a strong retaliatory posture, and for the North Korean regime to change just as the Soviet Union changed in the past.”
Reporter Shin Na-ri [email protected]
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2024-09-03 15:44:29