North Koreans cancelled Games meeting with Pence
US Vice President Mike Pence was all set to hold a historymaking meeting with North Korean officials during the Winter Olympics in South Korea, but Kim Jong-un’s government cancelled at the last minute, the Trump administration said.
A potential meeting between Mr Pence and the North Koreans had been the most highly anticipated moment of the Vice President’s visit to PyeongChang, South Korea, where he led the US delegation to the opening ceremonies. Ahead of Mr Pence’s visit, Trump officials had insisted they’d requested no meeting with North Korea, but were open to the possibility.
There was no indication that a meeting had indeed been planned – and then can- celled on short notice – until yesterday, more than a week after Mr Pence returned to the US. The State Department said that Mr Pence had been “ready to take this opportunity” but would have used it to insist Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
“At the last minute, DPRK officials decided not to go forward with the meeting,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, using an acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.