Pence arrives for Winter Olympics, sounds alarm about North Korea's record on human rights

Aamer Madhani | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Pence on meeting North Koreans: 'We'll see' Vice President Mike Pence isn't ruling out meeting with the North Korean delegation while in South Korea for the Winter Olympics, commenting 'we'll see what happens.' Pence stopped in Alaska while on his way to South Korea. (Feb. 6)

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea—Vice President Pence arrived in South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday carrying a message to the Games' host that it was time to increase pressure on neighboring North Korea even as the Kim Jong Un regime has shown a relative measure of cooperation.

Pence's arrival for the Games comes as he's been at the center of a Trump administration effort to downplay the significance of the recent thaw between North Korea and South Korea that has come with the 2018 Winter Games.

The rival nations will march under a unified banner at Friday’s opening ceremonies here, and 22 North Korean athletes will compete with the South Korean team.

But Pence, who will lead the U.S. delegation at the opening of the Games, continued his days-long barrage against the rogue North Korean regime.

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Before arriving in Seoul on Thursday, he made the case that the Kim regime's long history of mistreatment of North Korea's citizens and human rights abuses underscores why the international community must increase pressure on the regime to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

“As we speak, an estimated 100,000 North Korean citizens labor in modern-day gulags,” Pence said in a speech to U.S. troops at the Yokota Air Base in Japan hours before he arrived in Seoul. “Those who dare raise their voices in dissent are imprisoned, tortured, and even murdered; their children and grandchildren routinely punished for their family’s sins against the state.”

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The latest salvo against North Korea came hours before Pence met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Seoul. Pence said earlier this week that the Trump administration will soon announce new sanctions against North Korea and vowed to continue to isolate the regime until it abandons its nuclear program.

The Trump administration is trying to increase pressure on Pyongyang, while pressing Moon to be wary of the recent overtures by the North.

In addition to sending athletes to the Games, the North Korean dictator has dispatched his sister as part of the North’s official delegation — marking the first time a member of his family has officially visited the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

In brief remarks before a dinner in Pence's honor, Moon said he was hopeful this moment would prove to be the Korean Peninsula's "Olympic Games of Peace," spurring denuclearization in the North and a lasting detente between rivals.

Pence, however, told troops at Yokota, which monitors the Korean peninsula, that the region needs to remain vigilant. He added that U.S. troops and the Trump administration remain “ready for every eventuality.”

Talks between Moon and Pence certainly will be tricky. The South Korean president has expressed optimism that the Olympic thaw could provide a diplomatic opening and help relax tensions on the Korean peninsula over the North’s nuclear program.

But Pence has made clear in public statements this week before U.S. troops and alongside Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the North’s long pattern of “deception and provocation” should make the world skeptical that diplomacy will work.

Still, Pence downplayed differences between the Trump administration’s approach and Moon’s to Kim regime.

“Let me assure you, the relationship between the United States and South Korea is strong,” Pence said. “We are committed to freedom. We are committed to our common defense.”

In his comments before the troops at Yokota Air Base, Pence underscored the difficult living-conditions for North Koreans under Kim regime.

He noted 70% of the nation depends on food aid to survive and nearly a third of North Korean children’s health has been impacted by malnutrition. More than 1 million North Koreans died during famines of the 1990s.

“While the regime’s leaders in Pyongyang have prospered, the average North Korean toils in poverty and want,” Pence said.

Pence has vowed to keep the spotlight on North Korea during his time in the South for the Games.

To that end, the vice president has invited Fred Warmbier, an Ohio-man who is the father of Otto Warmbier, as his guest to the games.

The younger Warmbier was arrested by North Korea in 2016 while visiting the country for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster. Warmbier was freed in June 2017 shortly after North Korean officials announced he was suffering medical problems and fallen into a coma. He died soon after being returned to the U.S.

Pence won't rule out a possible meeting with North Korean officials during the games, though he again underscored on Thursday he wasn't seeking talks.

"We'll have to wait and see exactly how that unfolds," Pence said. "What I want to assure the American people is that, as the President said, while we always believe in talking, our message is going to be exactly the same ... that is that North Korea must end this long era of deception, provocation, of developing nuclear weapons, threatening the region and the wider world."