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US Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in a speech at the party’s national convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 22, 2024. (AFP/Yonhap)

The US Democratic Party National Convention wrapped up on Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepting the party’s nomination for president. 
 
During her acceptance speech, Harris rallied her audience by using the word “fight” 13 times, vowing to fight for the future of the US, freedom, democracy, the middle class and reproductive freedom.
 
While she failed to present policies to make up for her weaknesses, such as economic policies to tackle inflation or policies to address immigration issues, many praised the speech as one that united the party ahead of the election. 
 
By leading the polls around the nation and in key battleground states that will make or break the presidential election in November, Harris is on a winning streak against former President Donald Trump.
 
The upcoming US presidential election is not only a matter of huge concern for America but also for the world. The people of the US must decide who and what their country stands for, while also deciding whether the US should continue to actively intervene in international affairs as the world’s only hegemonic power.
 
The issue at stake for us is what policies on the Korean Peninsula the new White House will adopt. Harris said she “will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump,” in her speech, while Trump said the exact opposite by boasting, “I got along very well with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. It’s nice to get along with somebody who has a lot of nuclear weapons,” when accepting the Republican nomination. 

The South Korean government faces a serious dilemma as it is too early to predict who will win the election and the two candidates are pushing for policies that are polar opposites of one another.
 
The only thing we can be sure of is that whoever wins, a thorny path awaits us. 

If Harris emerges triumphant, we will have to deal with a government claiming that it will conduct dialogue with North Korea for its denuclearization, only to do nothing while pursuing a rebooted “strategic patience” policy.
 
The issue of North Korea’s nuclear program will be neglected for another four years while calls for military cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan to combat the threat posed by North Korea, China and Russia will gain strength.
 
But if Trump wins, we may see the US step back to allow North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons, which is nothing short of disastrous for Seoul. 
 
We have no choice but to strive to make sure that the US maintains its principle of denuclearization and puts North Korea’s nuclear program at the top of its diplomatic priorities. If that is to happen, we must scrap our current stance of catering to the whims of the US by only adding pressure on North Korea. South Korea should make an active effort to conduct dialogue with North Korea, China and Russia. If we waste yet another four years, North Korea’s nuclear program will become an impossible conundrum, never to be solved.

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