SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s recent disclosure of a nuclear facility was likely an attempt to grab U.S. attention ahead of next month's presidential election, and the North will likely stage major provocations like a nuclear test explosion and a long-range missile test, South Korea’s president says.
President Yoon Suk Yeol shared his government’s assessment on the recent moves by North Korea with The Associated Press, before he leaves Sunday for a three-nation trip that includes a stop in Laos for summits with Southeast Asian and other world leaders. At Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-related meetings, Yoon says he’ll emphasize that North Korea’s nuclear disarmament is essential to regional peace.
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FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, oversees a launch of, what it says, the country's newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea, Sept. 18, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Mich., Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Fayetteville, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to shake hands at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden, right, and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol shake hands during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 26, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his remarks during the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 6, 2023. (Adi Weda/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his speech during a celebration to mark the 76th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day in Seongnam, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo distributed by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, walks around what it says is a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on the launcher at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 24, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a special operation forces unit at a western district in North Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - This undated photo provided on Sept. 13, 2024, by the North Korean government shows its leader Kim Jong Un, center, on an inspecting visit at what they say is an institute of nuclear weapons and a facility for nuclear materials at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, boards the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier at the South Korean naval base in Busan, South Korea, June 25, 2024. (South Korean Presidential Office/Yonhap via AP, File)
“At the upcoming ASEAN-related summits, I will stress the importance of denuclearization of North Korea, which is a prerequisite for realizing a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” Yoon said in written responses to questions from the AP.
“This will serve to send a clear message that the international community will never condone North Korea’s reckless actions,” he said.
Concerns about North Korea have grown in recent weeks, with the country unveiling a secretive uranium-enrichment facility, vowing to build more nuclear weapons and continuing its provocative missile tests. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to destroy South Korea with his nuclear weapons, if provoked.
Many foreign experts say North Korea eventually hopes to use an expanded nuclear arsenal as leverage to win outside concessions like sanctions relief, after a new U.S. president is elected. They say Kim likely thinks a win by Republican candidate Donald Trump, whom he engaged in high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018-19, would increase his chances to get what he wants than Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. During campaigns, Trump boasted about his personal ties with Kim, while Harris said she won’t “cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are rooting for Trump.”
The Sept. 13 disclosure of the nuclear site showed Kim’s defiance of U.S.-led efforts to eliminate his advancing nuclear program. It was North Korea’s first unveiling of a facility to produce weapons-grade uranium since the country showed one at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars led by nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker in 2010. Hecker said the centrifuge hall shown in the recent North Korean photos was not the same one that he saw in 2010.
“North Korea seems to have recently disclosed its nuclear facility in order to draw attention from the United States and the international community in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, and it is likely that North Korea will carry out additional provocations such as nuclear tests and ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) launches going forward,” Yoon said.
Yoon didn’t elaborate whether South Korea has detected any suspicious activities in North Korea that indicate its preparations for nuclear and ICBM tests. He said South Korea is closely monitoring North Korea’s movements through the South Korea-U.S. combined intelligence and surveillance assets.
North Korea has conducted six underground nuclear tests since 2006, and numerous ICBM test-launches in recent years. Additional tests are likely meant to further hone its nuclear and missile capabilities. Many observers assess North Korea has yet to possess functioning nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland, though it likely has ones that can strike all of South Korea and Japan.
Since his inauguration in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has made a stronger military alliance with the United States the center of his foreign policy to cope with North Korea's evolving nuclear threats. He’s also taken a major step toward moving beyond historical disputes with Japan to beef up a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security partnership. Such moves have enraged North Korea, which has called Yoon “a traitor” and ignored his calls for dialogue.
There are some potential worries about the South Korea-U.S. alliance if Trump returns to the White House. He had previously asked South Korea to drastically increase its share for the cost of the U.S. military deployment on its soil. Some experts say Trump's possible push for a new round of negotiation with Kim could complicate Yoon's approach on North Korea's nuclear program.
But Yoon said that he's confident that the “ironclad” South Korea-U.S. alliance will continue to advance steadily regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election.
“There is a firm bipartisan support for the ROK-U.S. alliance in the United States,” Yoon said. “Numerous leading U.S. Democrats and Republicans have publicly stated their staunch support for the alliance and are continuously visiting Korea for consultations to enhance the bilateral relations.”
The ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's formal name.
Yoon also expressed confidence that South Korea and Japan will continue to advance their bilateral ties under Japan's new Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office last week. Yoon's office said the two countries are discussing arranging a meeting between Yoon and Ishiba on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
Yoon said he believes North Korea's nuclear threats against South Korea are aimed at fomenting internal divisions in South Korea and tightening its domestic control with heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“The North Korean regime’s past claim that its nuclear development was never intended to target the Republic of Korea, since we are one nation, has been debunked,” Yoon said.
Asked about North Korea's repeated launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, Yoon said that North Korea “will face consequences that it will find difficult to withstand” if the safety of South Korean people is jeopardized. He didn't elaborate what specific steps his government is considering.
Before visiting Laos, Yoon is to travel to the Philippines and Singapore.
At the ASEAN-related summits, Yoon said that a key issue that South Korea plans to raise other than the North Korean nuclear program is the establishment of the ROK-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership. He said South Korea will further expand cooperation with ASEAN on a range of areas such as politics, military exchanges, cybersecurity, environments and a safety net against financial crises.
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, oversees a launch of, what it says, the country's newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea, Sept. 18, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Mich., Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Fayetteville, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to shake hands at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden, right, and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol shake hands during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 26, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his remarks during the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 6, 2023. (Adi Weda/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his speech during a celebration to mark the 76th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day in Seongnam, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo distributed by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, walks around what it says is a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on the launcher at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 24, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a special operation forces unit at a western district in North Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - This undated photo provided on Sept. 13, 2024, by the North Korean government shows its leader Kim Jong Un, center, on an inspecting visit at what they say is an institute of nuclear weapons and a facility for nuclear materials at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, boards the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier at the South Korean naval base in Busan, South Korea, June 25, 2024. (South Korean Presidential Office/Yonhap via AP, File)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.
Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump's intention marks a rejection of decades of U.S. policy that has prioritized self-determination over territorial expansion.
“I’m not going to commit to that," Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military. "It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes."
Greenland, home to a large U.S. military base, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of Denmark's claim to Greenland.
The Panama Canal has been solely controlled by the eponymous country for more than 25 years. The U.S. returned the Panama Canal Zone to the country in 1979 and ended its joint partnership in controlling the strategic waterway in 1999.
Addressing Trump's comments in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the United States Denmark’s “most important and closest ally,” and that she did not believe that the United States will use military or economic power to secure control over Greenland.
Frederiksen repeated that she welcomed the United States taking a greater interest in the Arctic region, but that it would “have to be done in a way that is respectful of the Greenlandic people,” she said.
“At the same time, it must be done in a way that allows Denmark and the United States to still cooperate in, among other things, NATO,” Frederiksen said.
Earlier, Trump posted a video of his private plane landing in Nuuk, the Arctic territory’s capital, in a landscape of snow-capped peaks and fjords.
“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland,” Trump wrote. “The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
In a statement, Greenland’s government said Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was taking place “as a private individual” and not as an official visit, and Greenlandic representatives would not meet with him.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said his government hasn’t had formal contact with Trump or representatives of the incoming administration but reiterated previous comments from the country’s president, José Raúl Mulino, who said last month that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands.
“The sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest,” Martínez-Acha said.
Trump, a Republican, has also floated having Canada join the United States as the 51st state. He said Tuesday that he would not use military force to invade the country, which is home to more than 40 million people and is a founding NATO partner.
Instead, he said, he would would rely on “economic force" as he cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities like crude oil and petroleum — as a subsidy that would be coming to an end.
Canadian leaders fired back after earlier dismissing Trump's rhetoric as a joke.
“President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X.
Justin Trudeau, the country's outgoing prime minister, was even more blunt.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” he wrote.
Promising a “Golden age of America," Trump also said he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” saying that has a “beautiful ring to it.”
He also said he believes that NATO should dramatically increase its spending targets, with members of the trans-Atlantic alliance committing to spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense spending, up from the current 2%.
In June, NATO announced a record 23 of its 32 member nations were on track to hit that target as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.
Trump also used his press conference to complain that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the incumbent moved to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. All told, about 625 million acres of federal waters were withdrawn from energy exploration by Biden in a move that may require an act of Congress to undo.
“I’m going to put it back on day one," Trump told reporters. He pledged to take it to the courts “if we need to."
Trump said Biden's effort — part of a series of final actions in office by the Democrat's administration — was undermining his plans for once he's in office.
“You know, they told me that, we’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth," Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”
But Biden's team has extended access and courtesies to the Trump team that the Republican former president initially denied Biden after his 2020 election victory. Trump incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients “has been very helpful.”
In extended remarks, Trump also railed against the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw now-dropped prosecutions over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and possession of classified documents after he left office in 2021. The Justice Department is expected to soon release a report from Smith summarizing his investigation after the criminal cases were forced to an end by Trump's victory in November.
Associated Press writers David Keyton in Berlin, Robert Gillies in Toronto, Jill Colvin in New York and Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)