CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris claimed during her speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Thursday that North Korea’s communist dictator, Kim Jong Un, is “supporting” his opponent, former President Donald Trump, in the 2024 presidential election.
Verdict: False. The Kim regime’s main state propaganda agency, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), stated categorically that “we don’t care about this” regarding the outcome of the 2024 election. Kim Jong Un himself, who has met with President Trump several times, later accused him of negotiating with Pyongyang “in good faith.”
Harris’ speech was the first of the four-day Democratic National Convention (DNC) to address her foreign policy if elected, as she criticized Trump for unpopular actions such as adopting a foreign policy favorable to Russia and antagonizing NATO. Despite the administration’s history of making concessions to the Islamic theocratic state of Iran, she maintained that “we will never hesitate to take the action necessary to defend our troops and our interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.”
“And I have no intention of fraternizing with tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are cheering on Trump,” Harris argued, “because they know Trump is easily manipulated through flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold dictators accountable because he wants to be a dictator.”
Harris’ comments about Kim: joke “I’m sure he’ll want me back. I’m sure he misses me,” Trump said in a speech accepting the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention.
Kim Jong Un, who rarely speaks publicly about American politics, did not directly address the comments, but the Korean Central News Agency responded to Trump’s comments, confirming that he is not rooting for Trump.
“We don’t care what kind of administration comes to power in the United States because the political situation, which is currently in turmoil due to infighting between the two parties, will not change,” the Korean Central News Agency said, asserting that North Korea would continue its decades-old nuclear threats against the United States and its allies.
The same state media editorial also rejected the idea that the meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un had brought any benefit to the North Korean regime.
“It is true that during his presidency, Trump sought to translate the special personal relationship between heads of state into relations between the countries,” the state media continued, “but he did not bring about any substantive positive changes.”
In late July, President Trump appeared in a North Korean propaganda video in which he was identified as an enemy of Pyongyang, the “U.S. imperialists.”
Over the years, North Korea’s state-run media has called Trump a variety of names, including a “foul-smelling” old man and a “crazy old man who needs to be urgently sent to a psychiatric hospital.”
Long before recent Democratic speculation that Trump had won Kim’s support, Kim himself privately dismissed Trump as a “bad guy” who would bring no benefit to the ruthless communist regime. During a 2019 meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Kim complained that a meeting with Trump would not help the regime tighten its grip on power.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, “Kim Jong Un said that due to the US’s insincere and unilateral attitude at the recent second North Korea-US summit, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region is currently at a stalemate and at a critical juncture that could lead to a reversal.” It added, “The peace and security of the Korean Peninsula depends entirely on the future attitude of the US, and the DPRK is prepared for any situation.”
The Biden administration has largely maintained the Trump administration’s North Korea policy by doing little to address the Korean Peninsula issue. Harris herself has a limited record on North Korea apart from a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in September 2022, during which she inaccurately claimed the United States has a “strong alliance” with the “Republic of North Korea.”
Just before the Democratic National Convention this week, the section on “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” has reportedly disappeared from the Democratic Party’s platform, surprising observers in South Korea.
