SEOUL, South Korea — 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.”

Ms. 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 an American delegation to Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, where the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics will be held on Sunday.

White House officials said Ms. Trump would be cheering on American 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.