North Korea Suggests U.S. Election Will Have No Impact

November 2024
By Kelsey Davenport

North Korea suggested that the U.S. presidential election will not influence its approach to engagement with the United States and continued to blame Washington for escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Speaking at the United Nations on Sept. 30, Song Kim, North Korea’s representative to the world body, said that “whoever takes office,” North Korea will deal only with “the state entity called the [United States].” He suggested that “the mere administration” does not affect the hostile U.S. policy toward North Korea and Pyongyang’s policy toward Washington.

Kim noted that North Korea can “choose either dialogue or confrontation” but should “go further” in preparing for conflict because of Washington’s aggression in the region.

Despite Kim’s suggestion that dialogue is an option, North Korea’s growing military ties with Russia, its focus on expanding aspects of its nuclear weapons program, and its rejection of unification with South Korea indicate that Pyongyang may not be interested in negotiating with the United States at this time.

Kim said the security situation on the Korean peninsula will be “intricately complicated through to the next generation” unless the United States and its unspecified “followers” change their “confrontation and aggressive nature.”

As North Korea continues to expand its nuclear weapons program, South Korea also is investing in new military systems.

At a parade commemorating Armed Forces Day on Oct. 1, South Korea displayed a new ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is the most powerful ballistic missile in the country’s arsenal. It is designed to strike hardened targets with a large conventional warhead. South Korea has tested the system, but has not provided any details on the range and payload.

In addition to displaying the new missile system, President Yoon Suk Yeol heralded the establishment of South Korea’s new Strategic Command. In his Oct. 1 speech, Yoon described the creation of this command as “a key national task” and said it will protect South Korea from “North Korea's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction threats.”

South Korea began developing the new command in 2022 to centralize the country’s responses to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. It will oversee South Korea’s three-axis defense system, which includes preemptive strikes to thwart North Korean nuclear or missile attacks, known as Kill Chain; multilayered missile and air defenses to intercept North Korean launches; and a counteroffensive strategy known as Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation.

Yoon said the establishment of its Strategic Command “integrates our military’s advanced conventional capabilities” with U.S. extended deterrence.

The U.S. Strategic Command will coordinate with South Korea’s Strategic Command as part of Yoon’s April 2023 agreement with U.S. President Joe Biden to strengthen South Korea’s role in U.S. extended deterrence.

A U.S. B1-B bomber participated in the Oct. 1 parade, prompting criticism from North Korea.

In a statement ahead of the parade, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) accused the United States of “chronic nuclear phobia” and trying to “permanently deploy strategic assets” on the Korean peninsula to put pressure on North Korea.

The B1-B bomber is no longer a nuclear-capable system, but a U.S. Ohio-class submarine, which carries nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, made a port call in South Korea in 2023. In July 2024, South Korea and the United States announced new deterrence guidelines, which Yoon’s government described as specifically assigning U.S. nuclear weapons missions on the Korean peninsula.

In the Oct. 1 speech, Yoon reiterated that if North Korea uses nuclear weapons, it will face a “resolute and overwhelming response from our military and the [South Korean]-U.S. alliance” that will be the “demise” of the regime in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un responded by saying that South Korea has “deliberately worsened” the regional security situation with the parade.

Kim, speaking at the country’s National Defense University on Oct. 8, said that North Korea has “no intention” of attacking South Korea and reiterated that North Korea is no longer interested in unification with South Korea.

The following week, North Korea destroyed sections of road and rail lines near the border with South Korea. KCNA described the decision as an “inevitable and legitimate measure” because South Korea is a “hostile state.” KCNA said that North Korea plans further actions to fortify the border with South Korea.