US in the cold amid Korean embrace
Pence insists ‘no daylight' among allies on Pyongyang
US Vice-President Mike Pence’s efforts to keep North Korea from stealing the show at the Winter Olympics proved short-lived, drowned out by images of the two Koreas competing as one.
And as the South appeared to look favourably on warming ties on the Korean Peninsula, Pence insisted “there is no daylight” among the United States and allies South Korea and Japan in intensifying pressure on the North over its nuclear and missile programmes.
Pence spent the days leading up to the Pyeongchang Olympics warning that the North was trying to “hijack the message and imagery” of the event with its “propaganda”. But the North was welcomed with open arms to what South Korean President Moon Jae In called “Olympic Games of peace”.
It was the US that appeared to be the one left in the cold, especially after the sister of the North Korean dictator extended an invitation from her brother for Moon to visit the North. That was the clearest sign of a diplomatic opening opposed by the Trump Administration.
Pence said Moon updated him about the meeting he had with the North’s officials and “both of us reiterated . . . that we will continue to stand strong and work in a coordinated way to bring maximum economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on North Korea”. Moon was all smiles as he greeted Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, the country’s nominal head of state, for lunch.
At the opening ceremony, Pence sat stone-faced in his seat as Moon and North Korean officials stood together with much of the stadium to applaud their joint team of athletes. Asia experts said the Vice-President’s refusal to stand could be seen as disrespectful to the hosts. US officials have been urging South Korea to be cautious in its rapprochement with the North. But North Korea’s record on human rights and the growing threat from its nuclear weapons programme appeared out of mind. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe greeted Kim Yong Nam. At a VIP reception for delegation leaders, Pence arrived late and stayed for just five minutes — and did not interact with the North’s delegation.
“The Koreans will think it’s a mood kill,” said Frank Jannuzi, an expert on East Asia at the Mansfield Foundation in Washington. He criticised the Trump Administration for straining too hard to signal disgust of Kim Jong Un’s Government.
“The grievances that the world has about North Korea are very legitimate. But the Olympic moment that President Moon is trying to generate here is not a time to nurse those grievances.”
John Delury, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Yonsei University, described Pence’s approach to the trip as a “squandered” opportunity that had done “unnecessary damage”.
He said: “There can certainly be a healthy tension between Washington’s approach and Seoul’s but you don’t want to have this kind of open discombobulation. When there is political will in both Koreas, they can move quickly. They have their own relationship, and you can see especially the US is going to be struggling with this.”
The US was left outmaneuvered by an adversary and out of step with an ally. — AP, Telegraph Group Ltd