Ivanka Trump to push for ‘maximum pressure’ on North Korea

Ivanka Trump told South Korea’s president on Friday that she will use her visit to the Winter Olympics to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

The daughter of President Donald Trump is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, however, highlighted how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young- chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The meeting delayed the banquet’s start by about half an hour.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet.

In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a “maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

The Trump administration on Friday announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.