South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left, front row), first lady Kim Jung-sook, North Korean ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam (second from right, back row) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un`s sister Kim Yo-jong (right, back row) attend the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, Friday. (Yonhap)

The three countries — the key players in issues surrounding the North Korean nuclear issue –are represented by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, US Vice President Mike Pence and China’s Politburo Standing Committee member Han Zheng. Russia, the other party in the six-party talks on denuclearization, is absent from the games due to doping allegations.

North Korea was represented by its nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam, who heads Pyongyang’s high-level delegation.

The North Korean delegation, which arrived here Friday, also includes Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Even as we are here together, many countries around the world have thorny issues to sort out between them. Korea is no exception. Had it not been for the PyeongChang Olympics, some of us might not have had (the) chance to be together in the same room,” Moon said.

Moon went on to cite the example of the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, where the two Koreas fielded a joint team. He said that the joint women’s ice hockey team at the Winter Games is a seed of hope.

Citing a poem that says “a snowman starts with a snowball,” Moon said that the ice hockey players “are now holding a small snowball in their hands.”

“Together, we should start rolling the small snowball carefully with our hands. Now, if we put our hearts and minds together, it will continue to grow larger and larger and turn into a snowman of peace.”

While the South Korean leader talked of peace on the Korean Peninsula, Pence’s actions at the reception indicated that US-North Korea dialogue — considered an essential step in the denuclearization of the North — is unlikely.

Despite much speculation over the possibility of Pence meeting with the North Korean delegation, no such meeting came about.

US Vice President Mike Pence, second from bottom right, sits between second lady Karen Pence, third from from bottom left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. Seated behind Pence are Kim Yong-nam, third from top right, president of the Presidium of North Korean Parliament, and Kim Yo-jong, second from top right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap-AP)

Pence, along with Abe, arrived at the reception late, avoiding Moon’s meet-and-greet session where the North’s chief delegate was present. The US vice president did not attend the main event of the reception, where he would have been given a seat at the head table along with Kim Yong-nam and Abe.

Pence left shortly after greeting Moon, while Abe stayed.

Cheong Wa Dae said later that Pence had informed Seoul in advance that he would not attend the entire event in order to meet with US athletes.

According to pool reports, Pence did however take the time to greet and shake hands with other leaders present, but did not acknowledge Kim Yong-nam

As for the North Korean delegation, the 23-member group arrived in the South by private jet at 1:46 p.m. at the Incheon Airport.

From there, the delegation moved directly to PyeongChang in Gangwon Province to attend the reception and Olympic opening ceremony. The delegation, or a combination of its members, will also meet with Moon on Saturday.

While the delegation is led by Kim Yong-nam, experts are focusing on Kim Yo-jong. With her direct link to Kim Jong-un, she is expected to play a key role in future inter-Korean relations.

Jeong Se-hyun, who served as the South’s minister of unification for the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, said in an interview with a local radio station that Kim Jong-un has sent his sister to express willingness to revive inter-Korean talks, which could pave the way for Washington-Pyongyang dialogue.

But others are skeptical that Kim Yo-jong’s presence in South Korea will lead to any noteworthy breakthrough in the current situation surrounding North Korea, with Pyongyang’s unwillingness to give up its nuclear development program.

“President Moon has tied the issue of bringing denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula to an improvement in inter-Korean ties, but North Korea is not interested in denuclearization at the moment,” said research fellow Woo Jung-yeop of the Sejong Institute.

Some experts are voicing concerns that North Korea may be using the Olympic overture to gain more leeway on international sanctions.

Recently, North Korea has often made moves that call for sanctions exemptions, and “sending Choe Hwi to South Korea is part of North Korea’s tactics to widen the scope of its sanctions violations,” a source from a state-run research institute told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity.

Choe is subject to UN sanctions, including a travel ban, which was lifted for the duration of the visit to the South.

By He-suk Choi and Min-kyung Jung

(Korea Herald)

North Korea said Wednesday it would send Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, as a member of the high-level delegation to South Korea for a three-day visit starting Friday. She is the first member of the North’s “Kim Dynasty” to visit the South.

Kim Yo-jong (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-un’s pick of his sister, who is an increasingly influential figure in the country’s leadership, is seen as a potential sign of his willingness to break out from diplomatic isolation by mending ties with South Korea and the US, experts say.

But Kim’s visit would not likely heighten the possibility of meaningful engagement between North Korea and the US on the sidelines of the Feb. 9-25 Olympics, they add.

“I don‘t think Kim’s visit can be a game changer and I don‘t think North Korea and the US will hold talks on the sidelines of the Olympics as the two countries’ positions (on how to resolve the nuclear issue) have not changed,” Kim Keun-sik, a professor at Kyungnam University, told The Korea Herald.

While US Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not rule out a possible spontaneous meeting with North Korean officials, saying, “We‘ll see what happens,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert only said that “there are no plans to meet with any North Korean officials during or after the Olympics.”

Cho Han-bum, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that the North’s rare peace overture is its way of seeking an “exit plan” in the face of tough sanctions.

“I think that engagement between North Korea and the US is possible, but it will not be about denuclearization,” he said. “The North is basically demanding the US accept its possession of nuclear weapons, meet with it and have talks to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Lee Woo-young, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, also said that while Pyongyang and Washington are not likely to meet with each other, it could “help lay the groundwork for possible North Korea-US talks beyond the PyeongChang Olympics.”

On the surface, both Pyongyang and Washington made clear that they are not interested in meeting each other.

“We have never begged for dialogue with the US and it will be the same in the future,” a director of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency. “We are not going to use such a sports festival as the Winter Olympics as a political lever. There is no need to do so.”

Making his way to PyeongChang to lead the US delegation to Friday’s opening ceremonies, US Vice President Mike Pence said that the US is preparing to announce the “toughest and most aggressive” economic sanctions against North Korea and reiterated calls for more pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.

“We will not allow North Korea to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider region,” Pence said during a stop in Japan on Wednesday.

The US has said that it maintains its “maximum pressure” campaign against the North through sanctions and it will not engage in dialogue with Pyongyang unless the isolated country renounces its nuclear and missile programs.

“Officials from the two countries could encounter each other at events, but there will not be such progress as the countries agreeing to hold talks,” said research fellow Woo Jung-yeop at Sejong Institute, noting the firm difference in their approach to the North’s nuclear ambitions.

North Korea maintains it will not engage in any dialogue with the US if talks would be about abandoning its nuclear weapons programs.

“Kim’s visit is more about showing that improvement of inter-Korean ties is possible without the North giving up its nuclear weapons programs,” Woo said. “It is a strategy to drive a wedge between South Korea and the US.”

South Korea has sought to use the momentum created by inter-Korean talks to lead North Korea and the US to dialogue.

“The improvement in inter-Korean relations goes hand in hand with denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said during his meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday. “Our task lies in how we develop the conciliatory mood between the two Koreas into North Korea-US dialogue beyond the Olympics.”

By Hyun-ju Ock

(Korea Herald)