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Pence skips Olympics dinner in snub to North Korean officials
Source: The Guardian and agencies
Pence skips Olympics dinner in snub to North Korean officials
US vice-president was expected to share table with head of state before opening ceremony
Benjamin Haas in Pyeongchang and agencies
Fri 9 Feb 2018 15.53 GMT
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has skipped a dinner before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, where he was expected to share a table with North Korea’s head of state, in a sign of Washington’s intention to snub Pyongyang’s officials at the Games.
Pence briefly exchanged greetings with people attending the dinner, including the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, but avoided Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, highest-level official ever to have gone to the South.
North Korea’s senior diplomatic delegation, which arrived in the South on Friday, also included Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who became the first member of Pyongyang’s ruling dynasty to set foot in South Korea since the Korean war.
In an unprecedented and unexpected display of unity, Moon shook hands with Kim Yo-jong and Kim Yong-nam – a scene that would have been unimaginable a month ago. In another sign of the diplomatic rapprochement triggered by the Games, athletes from both sides of the border marched under one flag.
Pence was also sitting in the VIP section, metres from the North Korean officials he had snubbed earlier. He went to another dinner with US athletes, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
-snip-
US vice-president was expected to share table with head of state before opening ceremony
Benjamin Haas in Pyeongchang and agencies
Fri 9 Feb 2018 15.53 GMT
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has skipped a dinner before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, where he was expected to share a table with North Korea’s head of state, in a sign of Washington’s intention to snub Pyongyang’s officials at the Games.
Pence briefly exchanged greetings with people attending the dinner, including the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, but avoided Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, highest-level official ever to have gone to the South.
North Korea’s senior diplomatic delegation, which arrived in the South on Friday, also included Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who became the first member of Pyongyang’s ruling dynasty to set foot in South Korea since the Korean war.
In an unprecedented and unexpected display of unity, Moon shook hands with Kim Yo-jong and Kim Yong-nam – a scene that would have been unimaginable a month ago. In another sign of the diplomatic rapprochement triggered by the Games, athletes from both sides of the border marched under one flag.
Pence was also sitting in the VIP section, metres from the North Korean officials he had snubbed earlier. He went to another dinner with US athletes, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/09/kim-jong-uns-sister-arrives-in-south-korea-for-winter-olympics
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