US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate for the US presidential election, (left) and former US president Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate (AP-AFP)

The Democratic Party of Korea launched a task force to brace for the US presidential election just over a month away, to “prepare for potential challenges after the next administration takes office,” sources told The Korea Herald on Tuesday.

The Democratic Party think tank, the Institute for Democracy, gathered a team of experts and lawmakers on the National Assembly’s relevant committees to kick-start the discussions on the party’s approach to the US presidential election and the new administration.

The outcome of the task force’s work over the next few weeks will be published in a report before the election. The task force is slated to hold its first meeting on Oct. 4.

Lee Han-joo, the president of the Institute for Democracy, said in a phone call with The Korea Herald that the party was “preparing for both scenarios, Trump or Harris.”

On the party and the think tank’s plans regarding the US election, he said the party was “trying to represent how the Korean people feel about the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” against the backdrop of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s faltering ratings.

“I think the next US administration will be interested in what our party has to say,” he said.

One Democratic Party lawmaker participating in the task force told The Korea Herald that the discussions “will involve our response to the situation arising after the election, and the directions that our policies should take.”

The task force, led by senior researchers at the Institute for Democracy, comprises Reps. Wi Sung-lac, Lee Jae-jung, Kim Young-bae of the foreign affairs committee; Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the national defense committee; and Rep. Kwak Sang-eon of the trade and industry committee.

Two of the lawmakers on the task force, Reps. Wi Sung-lac and Kim Byung-joo, visited the US in June and met with former President Donald Trump’s campaign officials and allies.

According to Rep. Chung Dong-young, who was part of that delegation, the Democratic Party of Korea is planning a trip to the US by party chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung, to take place after the presidential election.

“It will be after the election, and we will be carefully considering when the right time will be,” he told The Korea Herald, adding that Lee was “interested” in the post-election trip.