Ivanka Trump seeks pressure on North
SEOUL — Ivanka Trump channeled her father’s call for “maximum pressure” on North Korea on Friday as she started a highly anticipated trip to South Korea, two weeks after the North’s leader sent his sister here on a mission seen as an attempt to undermine Seoul’s alliance with Washington.
In an early tweet from Washington, President Trump noted her arrival, saying, “We cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country.”
Ivanka Trump, who holds the title of senior White House adviser, had dinner with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, the capital. She will later lead a U.S. delegation to Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, where the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics will be held Sunday.
White House officials said Trump would be cheering on U.S. athletes and helping to cement Washington’s alliance with South Korea. She does not intend to meet with a North Korean delegation that will attend the ceremony, they said. But her presence at the event with the North Koreans is bound to generate intense interest.
Trump’s arrival was covered live on South Korean television.
At the opening ceremony of the games, the surprise visit by Kim Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader, created something of a sensation in the South, overshadowing Vice President Mike Pence’s trip at the same time. Kim met with Moon and delivered a surprise offer: her brother’s invitation to visit the North for a summit meeting.
With Kim having seized the media spotlight as the first immediate member of the North’s ruling family to set foot in South Korea, Trump’s visit is expected to restore some luster to the U.S. side of the unspoken propaganda contest.