Pence Lands in Seoul, North Korea: No US Talks Planned at Olympic
8 February 2018 18:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Seoul - North Korea has no intention of meeting U.S. officials during the Winter Olympics that start in South Korea on Friday, state media reported, dampening hopes the Games will help resolve a tense standoff over the North`s nuclear weapons programme.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who described North Korea as the world's most tyrannical regime, arrived in South Korea on Thursday ahead of the opening ceremony in the mountain resort of Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily armed border with the reclusive North.
The ceremony will also be attended by a senior delegation of North Korean officials, including the younger sister of leader Kim Jong Un and the North's nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam.
Read: US Vows New N. Korea Sanctions Ahead of Olympics Face-off
The sister, Kim Yo Jong, and her entourage will travel by private jet to Seoul's Incheon International Airport on Friday afternoon, North Korea informed the South.
That delegation will have lunch with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday.
"We have never begged for dialogue with the U.S. nor in the future, too," the North's KCNA news agency reported, citing Jo Yong Sam, a director-general at North Korea's foreign ministry.
"Explicitly speaking, we have no intention to meet with the U.S. side during the stay in South Korea. Our delegation's visit to South Korea is only to take part in the Olympics and hail its successful holding."
The United States had not requested talks with North Korea, but Pence left open the possibility of some contact although his message for denuclearisation remained unchanged.
Pence has said Washington would soon unveil "the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever" while South Korea wants to use the Olympics to re-engage with the North.
Read: North Korea Has Military Parade on Eve of Winter Olympics
Hinting at more engagement with Pyongyang, Seoul said it would be open to discussing resuming tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang once the security of tourists was guaranteed and conditions relating to North Korea's nuclear programme were met.
South Korean tours to the resort were closed after a South Korean tourist was shot by a North Korean guard there in 2008.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters all sides, not just the two Koreas, needed to work hard and dialogue between the United States and North Korea should be expanded for this to happen, Wang said.
"You can't have it that one person opens the door and another closes it," he said.
North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North defends its weapons programmes as necessary to counter U.S. aggression. The South hosts 28,500 U.S. troops, a legacy of the war.
REUTERS
