FOREIGN POLICY/MIKE PENCE/NORTH KOREA: “Vice President Mike Pence on Monday [2-5-18] did not rule out contact with North Korean officials when he attends the Winter Olympics in South Korea this week, saying, ‘I have not requested a meeting, but we’ll see what happens.’
The comments came as North Korean athletes, artists and officials were descending on South Korea for the Games in Pyeongchang. Among them is Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of North Korea’s Parliament, who serves as a nominal head of state and will lead a 22-member delegation of its officials making a rare visit to the South….
In a diplomatic breakthrough, the two Koreas agreed to march together in the opening ceremony on Friday and field a joint team in women’s ice hockey, the first ever inter-Korean Olympic team. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is hoping North Korea’s participation will lead to a longer-lasting thaw in relations between the two.
But Mr. Pence’s potentially conciliatory comments came as North Korea used its state news media Tuesday to issue a series of caustic, personal attacks on Mr. Trump and his State of the Union speech last week, in which he assailed the North’s ‘reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons.’ His comments came amid reports that the United States was considering a ‘bloody nose’ strategy of a limited military strike on North Korea.”
-Gerry Mullany, “Pence Doesn’t Rule Out Meeting North Koreans at Olympics,” The New York Times online, Feb. 6, 2018