Pence plans to speak “truth on the world stage, which is the opposite of what the North Koreans do,” a White House official told reporters Tuesday.
BRUSSELS — A major reason Vice President Pence will attend the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea next month: He is worried North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will “hijack the Olympics. . . in terms of optics and messaging,” and he wants to be able to provide a fact-based counter, according to a senior White House official.
“He has grave concerns that Kim will hijack the messaging around the Olympics. The North Koreans have been master manipulators in the past,” a senior White House official told reporters aboard Air Force Two on Tuesday as the vice president returned to the United States from a trip to the Middle East. “It’s a murderous state.”
The official did not want to be identified, as he discussed the internal discussions. Pence plans to speak “truth on the world stage, which is the opposite of what the North Koreans do,” the official said.
“I think a lot of vice presidents in the past have gone ceremoniously to the Olympics, and that’s what they do and that’s great.
