North Korea, U.S. set for uncomfortable encounter at Olympics as North delegation arrives

[webfact]

North Korea, U.S. set for uncomfortable encounter at Olympics as North delegation arrives

By Heekyong Yang, Christine Kim and Hyonhee Shin

 

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, meets South Korea's Unification minister Cho Myoung-gyun in Incheon, South Korea February 9, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS

 

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea's ceremonial leader and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence may have their first face-to-face encounter on Friday at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, with Washington gearing up for more sanctions against the North.

 

Any contact between the two is expected to be tense after Pence said South Korean President Moon Jae-in supported additional sanctions the United States was planning to impose on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear programmes.

 

Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, gets into a car in Incheon, South Korea February 9, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS

 

Pence said Moon acknowledged the effectiveness of sanctions in bringing North Korea to inter-Korean talks.

"President Moon reaffirmed to me his strong support of our extreme pressure campaign to continue to bring additional sanctions on North Korea," Pence told reporters.

 

He spoke after paying tribute at a memorial for 46 South Korean sailors killed in the sinking of a warship in 2010 that Seoul blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack.

 

Pence arrived in South Korea on Thursday and had talks and dinner with Moon, both reiterating their commitment and cooperation to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula.

 

Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's nominal head of state, landed in South Korea on Friday along with leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, aboard her brother's private jet shortly before 2 p.m. (0400 GMT).

 

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam arrive at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, February 9, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS

 

The white airplane had Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name, inscribed in black Korean letters on its side, followed by the North Korean flag.

 

Police formed barricades inside the airport as the delegation made their way to the bullet train to take them to the mountain resort of Pyeongchang.

 

Kim Yo Jong and her delegation were greeted by government officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon, before boarding the train.

 

There were no other civilian passengers on the train, a rail official told Reuters, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

 

Smiling and seemingly unfazed by cameras flashing during the airport meeting, Kim Yo Jong wore a black coat, matching ankle boots and carried a black purse. Dozens of South Koreans at the airport tried to snap photos of her on their mobile phones.

 

She is the first member of North Korea's ruling family to visit the South, while Kim Yong Nam is the most senior North Korean official to make a cross-border trip.

 

The pair will have lunch with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, Moon's office said.

 

'MAXIMUM PRESSURE'

 

The visit to the memorial by Pence, who has described the North as the "most tyrannical and oppressive regime", is in line with Washington's campaign to put "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang. 

 

Pence has kept open the possibility for some contact with the North Koreans in South Korea, while reiterating Washington's insistence that denuclearisation is a necessary condition for peace on the Korean peninsula.

 

Pence, Kim Yo Jong and other world leaders will attend the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea, later on Friday.

 

Moon will also hold a welcoming reception for his top guests before the Games opening, a presidential official said, where Pence and Kim Yong Nam could sit at the same table with Moon.

 

South Korea is pinning its hopes on the Olympics as a venue to demonstrate its efforts to defuse tensions and foster inter-Korean rapprochement.

 

The Games will see athletes from the two Koreas march together under one peninsula flag for the first time in more than a decade.

 

Nearly 500 North Koreans are participating in the Olympics, which run through to Feb. 25, including a cheering squad, art troupe and taekwondo demonstration team, the South's Unification Ministry said.

 

However, the inter-Korean Olympics detente has raised concerns in Washington and Tokyo that Seoul may undermine the U.S.-led campaign of global pressure to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.

 

Moon is also scheduled to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during which they are expected to discuss the North Korea standoff and the sensitive issue of "comfort women", a euphemism for girls and women forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels. 

 

Abe said before leaving for the Olympics he wanted to convey to the world that cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea on the North Korean threat "will not waver". 

 

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Christine Kim in SEOUL, Heekyong Yang in INCHEON; and Linda Sieg and Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-09

[lovelomsak]

Moon is also scheduled to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during which they are expected to discuss the North Korea standoff and the sensitive issue of "comfort women", a euphemism for girls and women forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels. 

    I like the above quote.

  What a way to put it politely( that are men and we are good men,we protect our women,family and even our country) and you the Japaneses owe us. The Olympics is sports so we will be sports but do not forget you need to be sports too. So listen closely to North Korea and side with Asian interests not American.

[Srikcir]

Instead of Pense putting himself in a potentially embarrassing situation with the North Korean delegation, Trump could have used the US Ambassador to South Korea. It is the diplomatic nature of ambassadors to meet representatives of Head of State and carries no stigma of conflict. An US ambassador could equalize the interactions between North and South Korea and discourage any splitting of the South Korea/US alliance.

Except Trump can't find anyone to be ambassador!

He had focused on Victor Cha but dropped Cha when Cha disagreed with Trump's idea of a "bloody nose" strike against North Korea.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2132374/heres-why-trump-cant-find-us-ambassador-south-korea

The Trump administration deserves blame for any of North Korea's diplomatic successes at the Olympic Games.