U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said North Korea is a country with a “brutal dictatorship,” an illegal weapons program and rampant human rights violations, launching unusually harsh criticism during her visit to the inter-Korean border on Thursday.
On her first visit to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, Harris said the heavily armed border area offers a stark reminder of the “dramatically different paths” the two sides have taken.
“In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an illegal weapons program that threatens peace and stability,” Harris said.
“The United States and the world seek a stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula in which the DPRK ceases to be a threat,” he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Harris was in the demilitarized zone after arriving in the South Korean capital, Seoul, early Thursday amid regional tension over North Korean missile launches and China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait.
Harris’ visit to South Korea, a staunch U.S. ally, comes amid fears that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test. South Korean officials say North Korea has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test since 2006 and its first since 2017.
Harris and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks and condemned the intensification of North Korea’s nuclear rhetoric and a series of missile tests, the latest of which took place on Wednesday.
“They condemned the DPRK’s provocative nuclear rhetoric and ballistic missile launches,” a White House statement said. “They discussed our response to possible future provocations, including through trilateral cooperation with Japan.”
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