Fact Check: US VP Harris Did NOT Say She Is In Favor Of South Korea Having Nuclear Weapons

No Such Words

Did Kamala Harris say she approves South Korea to have nuclear weapons? No, that's not true: The U.S. vice president, who is campaigning for the 2024 U.S. presidency, stressed, instead, the importance of a "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The claim originated from a video (archived here) published on TikTok on July 31, 2024, under the Korean title "[속보] 해리스 대선중 한국 핵무장 파격발표 오늘부로 한국의 위치는 완전히 바뀔겁니다 한국 핵개발 승인 48시간 후 벌어질 일 180도 달라진 한미동맹 리뉴얼에 전세계 발칵3" translated into English by Lead Stories staff as: "[Breaking News] Harris said the Republic of Korea would have nuclear weapons, during her presidential campaign. From today, South Korea's role internationally will be completely changed. Things would happen in 48 hours after South Korea's nuclear weapon plan is approved; a totally renewed Republic of Korea-United States alliance will shock the World - Part 3."

It stated U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told the Washington Post (translated from Korean by Lead Stories staff):

Various opinions have been exchanged. However, it is clear that if a ROK-US alliance is renewed by allowing South Korea's own nuclear weapon, the role of South Korea on the international society will be totally different at that point.

This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:

(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Aug 2 05:04:53 2024 UTC)

The author of the TikTok post claims Harris said she would renew the Republic of Korea-United States alliance by allowing South Korean nuclear weapons during her U.S. 2024 presidential campaign. However, there was no report of such words allegedly by Harris on the Washington Post website, (archived here) as of September 4, 2024, even though the author of the TikTok post claimed the Washington Post reported the alleged comment by Harris. Moreover, according to a Google news search (archived here) conducted by Lead Stories staff on September 4, 2024, no news report from any media outlets would confirm that Harris had said that.

Vice President Harris had stressed (archived here and here) in the past the importance of the Republic of Korea-United States alliance and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In her South Korea visit in 2022 (archived here), VP Harris said:

Our shared goal -- the United States and the Republic of Korea -- is a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Moreover, Vice President Harris did not mention South Korean nuclear weapons in her X (formerly Twitter account (archived here) or on Facebook after she began her campaign for president on July 21, 2024.