Pence urges N. Korea to stop ‘long pattern of deception’
SEOUL, South Korea — With a diplomatic deal securing its spot in the Winter Olympics, North Korea successfully changed the international narrative awayfrom its pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles.
Events on Thursday may have refreshed some memories
Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Seoul on Thursday determined to remind the world about the North’s advancing weapons capability — a theme the totalitarian nation helped advance by staging a large military parade in the streets of Pyongyang.
Adayaftersuggesting that new sanctions might be imposed, Pence said the Trump administration would still press to isolate the North diplomatically and economically after the Olympics if it continues advancing as a nuclear-armed state.
“The time has come for North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missiles ambitions, set aside this long pattern of deception and provocation and then — and only then — can we begin to move forward to a peaceable outcome on the peninsula,” Pence told reporters traveling with him to Asia.
The vice president met Thursday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has embraced the recent thaw with the North.
Moon’s government hopes the Games might help decrease tensions on the peninsula, which have worsened in recent years as the North defied the international community in its weapons effort.
Pence, who earlier Thursday spoke publicly to troops in Japan during a visit in which he met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, didn’t take questions after the event with Moon. He did