[Weekly Focus] Trump 2.0: Here's what to expect on North Korea policy

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House is expected to greatly influence world affairs.. including relations with Seoul and Pyongyang.

For this week's Weekly Focus, we take a closer look at the incoming Trump administration's approach toward North Korea, with our foreign affairs correspondent Bae Eun-ji.

Welcome.

Thanks for having me.

1. Before we go into details, let's go over comments made by Trump's picks to lead foreign policy and national security issues on North Korea this week.

The Trump administration's defense chief nominee, Pete Hegseth recently called the North a "nuclear power."

Right.. his remarks sparked quite a lot of concerns here in South Korea.

In a written response to advanced policy questions submitted to a Senate panel ahead of his confirmation hearing, Hegseth said North Korea's status as a "nuclear power" poses threats to the Korean Peninsula and other parts of the world.

This has led to some watchers expressing concern that Hegseth's comments hint that the United States could recognize North Korea as a "nuclear weapon state."

His use of "nuclear power" differs from the term "nuclear weapon state" under international law, as it includes countries with nuclear weapons, that are not officially recognized as such.

"Nuclear weapon state" is a status that's officially granted to only five countries in the world, under an international treaty barring nuclear weapons development: that includes the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China.

South Korea and other countries that comply with the deal, known as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty --receive international support to pursue peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

But North Korea pulled out of the pact in 2003, to continue to advance nuclear weapons.

Seoul's foreign ministry immediately responded to Hegseth's comments saying that North Korea can "never be recognized as a nuclear weapon state," under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

2. We also heard Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio say that the United States needs to take a broader approach to North Korean issues.

That's right.

Let's take a listen to what Rubio had to say during his Senate confirmation hearing this week,.. where he called the North Korean leader a "dictator."

"In Moscow and Tehran and Pyongyang, dictators, rogue states now sow chaos and instability and aligned with and they fund radical terror groups and then they hide behind their veto power at the United Nations Security Council or the threats of nuclear war."

When asked about how he will re-shape America's 'broken' North Korea policy, which has only led to Pyongyang doubling down on its nuclear and missile programs rather than slowing them down, he said there has to be an appetite for a serious look at broader North Korean policies.

He called for efforts to prevent a war between North Korea and allies such as South Korea and Japan, and said they're seeking ways to prevent a crisis without encouraging other nation-states to pursue their own nuclear weapons programs leading to speculation that this could mean Washington is now shifting away from its focus on "denuclearizing" North Korea and rather, focus on more realistic options to manage risks.

At the hearing, Rubio also backed Trump's efforts to actively engage with the regime.

He admitted he was initially skeptical about engagement with the North and acknowledged that Trump's meeting with Kim did not produce any lasting agreement, but said it calmed the situation "quite a bit."

3. South Korea's intelligence agency suggested earlier this week.. that Trump might pursue dialogue with Kim Jong-un.

Will we be able to see Trump and Kim meet again?

Well, we can't be too sure about that for now but it does seem likely.

Trump named a close aide, Richard Grenell, as his presidential envoy for special missions and Alex Wong, who handled negotiations with North Korea during Trump's first term in office, as deputy national security adviser.

As you just mentioned, the NIS said Trump's recent appointments of top aides on North Korea issues further indicate a willingness to explore diplomatic talks, possibly "smaller-scale agreements" such as a nuclear freeze or an arms reduction.

This assessment was shared during the agency's briefing to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee on Monday. Take a listen.

"If the Trump administration comes to a conclusion that complete denuclearization of North Korea is impossible in the near future, it could seek to take actions in the form of a 'small deal' such as nuclear disarmament or arms reduction."

During Trump's first term, he held three summits with Kim Jong-un, but failed to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.

They first met in Singapore, then in Hanoi and finally in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas but the talks ended without any breakthroughs.

4. But there are concerns that the United States might bypass South Korea when trying to engage in dialogue with the North.

How should the South Korean government work to prevent that from happening?

South Korea's foreign ministry says it is closely cooperating with the United States and plans to communicate with the incoming U.S. administration to work on denuclearizing North Korea.

An expert that I've spoken to said that it's important for the South Korean government to focus on having some kind of network with key officials in the new administration that will be responsible for North Korea relations --such as Alex Wong and Richard Grenell.

"The most serious thing from the South Korean perspective is North Korea's nuclear threats. And Trump had mentioned several times he will you know possibly resume some kind of a summit that we have experienced back in 2018 and 19 so in those processes, South Korea should get into it and then deliver our own message and our opinion and our own policy."

Alright Eun-ji. We'll have to keep a close eye on how Trump's team decides to handle issues on the Korean Peninsula.

Thank you for the wrap-up. We appreciate it.

Thank you.