Ivanka rekindles hopes for US

2024-06-01 07:18:52      点击：922

/ Graphic by Lee Jong-eun

Pyongyang to send delegation for Olympics closing ceremony

By Kim Rahn

The chances of Washington-Pyongyang talks over the latter's nuclear program seem to be growing, with high-level officials from the two countries coming to South Korea for the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Attention to any possible contact is high, especially after it belatedly became known the two sides had planned a meeting when U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong participated in the opening ceremony.

Kim Yong-chol

Cheong Wa Dae and the Ministry of Unification said Thursday Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers' Party of Korea's United Front Department, would visit the South from Sunday to Tuesday, along with seven other delegates including Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

They will attend the closing ceremony that will take place on Sunday. Cheong Wa Dae said the rest of their itinerary has not been confirmed, although it is expected they will have a separate meeting with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae.

The high-profile North Korean delegation's visit was announced hours after the White House and Cheong Wa Dae confirmed Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, would make a four-day visit here from Friday to Monday.

She is scheduled to have talks with Moon over dinner at the presidential office on the first day of her visit. Ivanka Trump will also have a separate event with first lady Kim Jung-sook, as well as attending the closing ceremony.

Ivanka reaffirms maximum pressure against NK 2018-02-23 16:16  |  Foreign Affairs North Korea to send high-level delegation to Olympic closing ceremony 2018-02-22 13:36  |  North Korea Ivanka to arrive in Seoul on Friday 2018-02-19 15:58  |  Politics As the periods of the two delegations' stays overlap, expectations are growing over a possible meeting.

Ivanka Trump

The North's participation in the Olympics has created a conciliatory atmosphere in inter-Korean relations, and Kim Jong-un via his sister invited Moon to Pyongyang for a summit. The Moon administration hopes this unfolding situation will be expand to Washington-Pyongyang talks over North Korea's denuclearization.

It was belatedly disclosed Wednesday that North Korea and the U.S. had planned a secret meeting between Pence and Kim Yo-jong at Cheong Wa Dae, Feb. 10, when both of them were in the South. But North Korean called off the meeting two hours before, according to the U.S. government, because it was angry with Pence continually referring to a maximum pressure campaign against Pyongyang during his stay.

For now, South Korean officials say the chances of talks between the U.S. and North Korean delegations are low.

"The two sides are unlikely to have a chance for talks," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity.

The official partially admitted that Seoul had tried to arrange a meeting between Pence and Kim Yo-jong.

"They attempted a meeting previously, and Washington and Pyongyang recognized each other's stance in that process," he said, adding South Korea would not encourage the delegations to have talks with one another.

Still, Ivanka Trump is likely to take a softer stance toward the North compared to Pence. White House officials said she would mainly focus on cheering on American athletes, and denied media reports she was planning a meeting with female North Korean defectors. Pence met with some defectors, and was accompanied by the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was jailed in the North for 17 months and died six days after being returned home.

Meanwhile, the visit of Kim Yong-chol is expected to cause a stir as he is blacklisted under Seoul and Washington's sanctions. He is also believed to have orchestrated two North Korean attacks on the South in 2010 _ the torpedo attack on the naval frigate Cheonan that killed 46 sailors, and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island that killed four people, including two civilians.