U.S. to stand by South Korea against North’s threats, says Democratic platform

The United States will stand by South Korea and other allies to counter North Korean provocations, the Democratic Party's 2024 policy platform has showed, reiterating the party's commitment to cementing regional alliances for stronger deterrence.

Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves to supporters during the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Chicago. [AP/YONHAP]

The United States will stand by South Korea and other allies to counter North Korean provocations, the Democratic Party's 2024 policy platform has shown, reiterating the party's commitment to cementing regional alliances for stronger deterrence.

The party released the platform Sunday, the eve of the four-day Democratic National Convention, where Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are to be celebrated as the Democratic nominees for president and vice president for the Nov. 5 general election.

On the first day of the convention, party delegates voted to approve the 91-page document, which was passed by the Democratic platform committee last month before President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Despite the president having made way for Harris, the platform repeatedly referred to Biden's "second term" in a sign of outdatedness.

"President Biden has also worked alongside our allies to counter the threat posed by North Korea's destabilizing development of nuclear and missile programs, in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," the platform read.

"By bolstering our trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, we are maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and beyond."

The platform went on to highlight that Biden "has and will stand by our allies, especially South Korea, against North Korea's provocations, including its illegal build-up of missile capabilities."

The platform included sharp criticism of Republican standard-bearer and former President Donald Trump's policy approach toward North Korea and regional alliances, in a way that drew a contrast between the policy approaches of the current and preceding administrations.

"Trump took a different approach in the region, embarrassing the United States on the world stage, including by flattering and legitimizing Kim Jong-un, exchanging 'love letters' with the North Korean dictator," it said. "Trump directly threatened our valued ally South Korea with the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed there over a trade dispute."

The platform reaffirmed Biden's focus to continue to support America's allies.

"President Biden will never turn our back on our alliances or fail to stand up for human rights and democracy around the world and at home," it said.

In the 2024 document, there was no direct mention of the pursuit of denuclearization by the United States on the Korean Peninsula. The 2020 version included a pledge to build a "sustained, coordinated diplomatic campaign to advance the longer-term goal of denuclearization."

The latest document underlined a series of the Biden-Harris administration's policy feats, including trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

"Under Biden's leadership, the United States hosted a historic trilateral Camp David Summit with Japan and South Korea, enshrined the Washington Declaration with South Korea, and extended trilateral deterrence discussions with Japan," it said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended the summit at Camp David, the presidential retreat near Washington, last August. It produced a series of landmark agreements for three-way cooperation, including the "Commitment to Consult" each other in case of a shared security challenge.

Yoon and Biden adopted the Washington Declaration last April as part of efforts to enhance the credibility of America's nuclear deterrence.

The new Democratic platform is largely expected to set the tone for a general policy direction that Harris might adopt should she win the White House and become the nation's first female president.

In the latest platform, Korea was mentioned 14 times, including references to North Korea, in an indication of the party's attention to security on the Korean Peninsula and the importance of the alliance with South Korea. In the 2020 platform, Korea was mentioned just six times.

Yonhap