US Vice President Mike Pence was expected to meet with North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un's sister, while in South Korea for the Winter Olympics, but the North Koreans canceled the meeting at the last minute. .
“North Korea accepted the meeting in the hope that Vice President Pence would relax relations. The meeting would have been good for both sides and would have given the world stage to North Korean propaganda during the Olympics, ”Pence chief of staff Nick Ayers said in a statement.
But after Pence condemned North Korea's human rights violations and announced plans for new economic sanctions, "the North Koreans either avoided the meeting or perhaps were never honest about the session," Ayers said.
Pence allegedly met Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, but the North Koreans canceled the February 10 meeting two hours before it began.
The meeting would be the first scheduled between senior officials of the Trump administration and Pyongyang, to discuss the stalemate on North Korea's development of nuclear weapons capable of affecting the United States.
“President Trump had decided that if they wanted to speak, we would deliver our message without compromise by confirming our will to their denuclearization.
"This administration will thwart Kim's desire to whitewash their murderous regime with beautiful pictures at the Olympics, maybe that's why they walked away from a meeting or maybe they were never sincere in sitting down," Ayers said in the statement.
South Korea's presidential Blue House has said it has nothing to say about it.
Pence had criticized Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and announced the "toughest and most aggressive" sanctions against Pyongyang, while also moving to strengthen the US alliance with Japan and South Korea.
Kim Jong Un, through his sister, invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang to engage in talks "shortly".
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa told legislators that talks to improve inter-Korean relations must go hand in hand with those linked to the denuclearization of the North. Seoul has held close talks and collaborated with Washington regarding its pledges with Pyongyang, the minister said.
"Only when the denuclearization goes on will inter-Korean relations move forward," Kang said, adding that Washington's role is "very important" in leading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The signs of a north-south thaw led to the hypothesis that it could lead to direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang after months of tension and insults between US President Donald Trump and Kim, fueling the fears of a war.
North Korea has refrained from carrying out weapons tests since late November, when it fired its largest ICBM. South Korea's Unification Ministry declined to report Wednesday whether North Korea engaged in its regular winter military exercises, which usually begin in December and continue for a few months.