Pence’s office: NKoreans canceled meeting with VP

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Vice President Mike Pence departed for a swing through Asia this month having agreed to a secret meeting with North Korean officials while in South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

But on Saturday, Feb. 10, less than two hours before Pence and his team were set to meet in Seoul with Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, the regime’s nominal head of state, the North Koreans pulled out of the meeting, according to Pence’s office.

The North Korean decision came after Pence had used his trip to denounce their nuclear ambitions and announce the “toughest and most aggressive” sanctions against the regime yet. The North Koreans expressed their dissatisfaction with those actions, as well as with Pence’s meeting with North Korean defectors, the office said.

It also came as Kim Jong Un invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang to begin talks “soon” — a development that would likely cause consternation in Washington, where the Trump administration has been trying to put “maximum pressure” on the Kim regime to give up its nuclear program.

Pence’s trip was promoted as an effort to combat North Korea’s supposed plan to use the Games for propaganda purposes.

“North Korea dangled a meeting in hopes of the Vice President softening his message, which would have ceded the world stage for their propaganda during the Olympics,” said Nick Ayers, the vice president’s chief of staff, while also pointing to the events Pence held to highlight human rights abuses by Pyongyang. “North Korea would have strongly preferred the vice president not use the world stage to call attention to those absolute facts or to display our strong alliance with those committed to the maximum pressure campaign.”

Pence’s goal for the meeting was to deliver the administration’s tough stance against North Korea face to face, two White House officials said.