Kim’s significant change should come before another Washington-Pyongyang summit

Democratic Senator Chris Coons said in a telephone interview with The Dong-A Ilbo on Tuesday (local time) that a significant shift in North Korea’s leadership should happen prior to another summit talk between Washington and Pyongyang. He, a likely nominee for Secretary of State if Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wins the election this November, added that exchanging “love letters” with a dictator is not the right thing to do, describing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “brutal dictator.” He was harshly critical of the “dictator” oppressing residents, abducting and attacking visitors from overseas, and posing a nuclear threat to regional security.

Senator Coons argued that South Korea, the United States, and Japan should build greater security cooperation with a Harris administration in office, considering the closer ties among North Korea, China, and Russia. He assessed their trilateral ties as a critical threat to democratic values and security across Asia, stressing that Seoul’s alliance with Washington and Tokyo serves as an anchor in the Indo-Pacific region, which makes it all the more important for the three countries to find ways to safeguard freedom. He also maintained that the three governments should expand joint drills to show their enemies how closely they cooperate for the sake of freedom and openness across the Pacific region.

Senator Coons plans to visit South Korea for trilateral economic dialogue among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo scheduled next Wednesday. He is expected to discuss ways to enhance trilateral cooperation among the three allies on security and economic matters with a variety of political, government and economic leaders. Meanwhile, he highlighted that it takes technological skills, innovation, and trust for South Korea to outcompete China in the fields of AI and aerospace, adding that AI-driven innovations could not happen in the United States without economic ties with South Korea’s large companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, SK, and LG.


워싱턴=문병기 특파원 weappon@donga.com