U. S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Japan on Tuesday at the start of an Asia trip that takes him to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, saying he had no plans to talk to North Korean officials but leaving open the chance of a meeting. Pence’s trip
U. S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Japan on Tuesday at the start of an Asia trip that takes him to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, saying he had no plans to talk to North Korean officials but leaving open the chance of a meeting.
Pence’s trip to South Korea this week will coincide with a visit to the Games by North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, the most senior North Korean official to enter the South since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
With the North Korean official’s attendance at the Olympics raising hopes of high-level inter-Korean talks, Pence stopped short of ruling out the prospect that he could meet senior North Korean officials, despite President Donald Trump having cast doubt on U. S. negotiations with Pyongyang anytime soon.
Speaking during the flight to Japan, Pence said he had not sought talks with North Korean officials at the Games but left open the possibility. “President Trump has said he always believes in talking, but I haven’t requested any meetings. But we’ll see what happens,” Pence told reporters.
A White House official, however, cautioned against “reading too much” into Pence’s comment, saying, “He’s not going to South Korea to negotiate. There’s been no change in policy.” The Trump administration insists any future talks must be aimed at North Korea giving up its development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States. If Pence were to meet Kim, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, he would be the most senior U. S. official to meet a North Korean leader since President Bill Clinton met Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok, a special envoy of Kim Jong Un’s father Kim Jong Il, at the White House in October 2000.
The United States believes North Korea, which has sent a team to the Games, is using the event for crude propaganda, and U. S. officials say Pence is going there to try to counter that.
As his guest for the opening ceremony on Friday, Pence is bringing the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months and died in June 2017 from lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.
