The US and South Korea have agreed on terms for further engagement with North Korea, first by Seoul and then possibly leading to talks with Washington, Pence said in an interview with the Washington Post aboard Air Force Two on his way home from the Olympics in South Korea on Sunday.

“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization,” the Post quoted Pence as saying. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”

US Vice President Mike Pence (center) between Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, and Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister. (Yonhap)

Seoul declined to comment on the report, with a Cheong Wa Dae press official saying that related matters must be handled “prudently.”

Pence’s remarks come after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang during their meeting at the Blue House on Saturday.

Moon neither accepted nor rejected the invitation, saying the Koreas should create an environment for such a summit to take place, apparently mindful of the US. He also encouraged the North to be more proactive in seeking dialogue with the US, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

The invitation left Moon with the pressing task of convincing North Korea to engage in dialogue over its nuclear and missile programs without alienating its biggest ally, the US.

Concerns surfaced over the possible discord between South Korea and the US in its approach to dealing with North Korea as Pence, who was in South Korea for the opening of the PyeongChang Olympics, increased US pressure on Pyongyang by highlighting the brutality of the regime during his time here.

Pence was seen ignoring or avoiding high-profile North Korean delegates, including Kim Yo-jung, when he was in close proximity to them during the reception hosted by President Moon and during the opening ceremony of the Winter Games.

But Pence’s comments aboard Air Force Two may signal Trump administration’s policy shift to engagement with Pyongyang and an easing of conditions for talks with it. Previously, the US had ruled out any possibility of talks with the North unless it agreed to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.

During Pence’s visit, Moon assured Pence he would tell the North Koreans clearly that they would not get economic or diplomatic concessions for just talking, only for taking concrete steps toward denuclearization, according to the Post. Based on this assurance, Pence was cited as saying, he felt confident he could endorse post-Olympic engagement with Pyongyang.

But Pence said that the pressure campaign would continue at the same time. Washington has sought to isolate Pyongyang through sanctions and diplomacy to convince it to sit down for talks on its denuclearization.

Earlier in Japan, Pence said that Washington will soon unveil its “toughest and most aggressive sanctions” ever against North Korea after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Wednesday.

China and Japan showed mixed reactions to Pyongyang’s overture.

China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, welcomed North Korea’s move.

“The two Koreans strive to break the nuclear deadlock through the Olympics,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported, adding the opening of dialogue on the Korean Peninsula was up to the two Koreas’ will and neighboring countries’ support.

A high-ranking Chinese official met with Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, when they were in South Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

They had “exchanges,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a press briefing without elaborating what they discussed during the meeting.

In Washington, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi said that China hopes the thaw in inter-Korean ties over the Olympics can be translated over into regular talks between North Korea and the US during his meeting with the US President Donald Trump on Friday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

Japan, on the other hand, expressed skepticism over the communist regime’s peace overture, warning against its “smile diplomacy.”

“Japan and South Korea joined the path for dialogue with North Korea, but it continued to develop its nuclear and missile programs. Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless,” Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters on Saturday.

Japanese Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe told Moon during their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae that he favors the swift resumption of joint US-South Korean military exercises, which had been delayed until after the Olympics to ensure calm and security during the Olympics.

In response, Moon said that it was an internal affair and that it was inappropriate for Abe to bring it up, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Tokyo has accused the North of using the Olympics to loosen the international sanctions regime, “buying time” to perfect its nuclear and missile technology and water down the Korea-US alliance.

Hyun-ju Ock

(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)

ICBM-class Hwasong-14 and -15 missiles – which were successfully test-fired last year – were shown alongside Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles and Pukkuksong-2, solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missiles, according to footage of the parade, which the South Korean military said it believed started at 11:30 a.m.

Some 13,000 soldiers are thought to have participated in the military event at Kim Il-sung Square in central Pyongyang. Troops marched in formation while Kim Jong-un watched from a balcony alongside his wife Ri-Sol-ju, who made a rare appearance at the public event.

Hwasong-14 appears during North Korea`s military parade in Pyongyang. Yonhap

“Invasive forces cannot infringe upon or harass the republic’s sacred dignity and autonomy even by 0.001 millimeters,” said Kim, describing the parade as an opportunity to show North Korea’s emergence as the “world’s military power.”

Dressed in a long black winter coat that appeared to remind the audience of the North’s founding father Kim Il-sung, Kim arrived by limousine and stepped out onto a red carpet. Kim arrived at last year’s military parade in the same fashion but without his wife Ri by his side.

Also present at the event were Kim Jong-gak, a vice chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, who was rumored to have been purged in 2012. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believed Kim was appointed the new chief of the military’s General Political Bureau.

A South Korean military official said that the military parade took place on a scale smaller than the largest-ever military parade held last year, which showcased ICBMs and the submarine-based ballistic missile Pukguksong-1 for the first time.

“Compared to last year’s military parade, the scope and content of the event seems to have shrunk,” said the official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. “It was also shorter than the event last year.”

North Korea’s state media had remained mum on the military event until it broadcast recorded image of the event on Thursday afternoon. International media were not allowed to cover the parade, while only a handful of diplomats were invited to the event.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had speculated the military parade would take place in a “similar pattern” to last April’s parade.

It was the first military parade since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared in December that his country had become a “strategic” nuclear power that could pose a direct threat to the US with its nuclear ballistic missiles.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un uses binoculars to look out at the military parade Thursday. (Yonhap)

Coinciding with the PyeongChang Olympics where the two Koreas are to march under the Korean Unification Flag, the military parade put South Korea in an awkward positon — pursuing efforts to improve cross-border ties despite persistent concerns over the North’s nuclear threat.

The Moon Jae-in administration reiterated that the military parade is an event for a domestic audience independent of the Olympics, but concerns are emerging over whether it would clash with Pyongyang’s pledge not to engage in hostile activities during the sporting event.

Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun said it was “inappropriate” to link the military parade to the PyeongChang Olympics, downplaying suspicions that North Korea intentionally decided to hold a military parade a day before its athletes march into the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday.

The crowd at the military parde in Pyongyang on Thursday spell out N. Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s name in Kim Il-sung Square. (Yonhap)

By Jun-suk Yeo

(Korea Herald)

In a telegram, the North said it was canceling the event slated to be held at Mount Kumgang on Feb. 4, Seoul’s unification ministry said.

The communist state was known to have cited what it claimed to be “biased” media reports about the upcoming event.

The unification ministry said the North also took issue with South Korean reports about its “internal event,” apparently referring to reports about a possible military parade marking the 70th anniversary of its military on Feb. 8, one day before the start of the Winter Olympic Games.

Hyon Song-wol, chief of the North’s Moranbong Band (Herald file photo)

The event at Mount Kumgang was to be part of a series of events to be held in the divided Koreas ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

North Korea has also agreed to stage art performances and taekwondo demonstrations in South Korea to commemorate its participation in the Winter Olympics.

Many local news outlets here, however, have voiced concerns over the joint events in that they may be in violation of UN Security Council sanctions currently in place against the communist North for its military provocations, including six nuclear tests.

The Seoul government said it was regrettable to see North Korea unilaterally call off a joint event that it had agreed to host.

(Yonhap)