Ivanka Trump Arrives In South Korea As Head Of U.S. Olympic Delegation At Closing Ceremonies

Ivanka Trump spoke with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and said that she will use her visit to the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

IVANKA TRUMP TO ATTEND OLYMPIC GAMES

President Donald Trump‘s daughter will be heading up the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing Olympic ceremony in the South Korean city. Moon has said that the games has served as a helpful vehicle for dialogue between his country and their northern neighbors, and implied that the U.S. and South Korea should use the momentum of the peaceful games to discuss denuclearization with North Korea.

Moon and Ivanka met at a closed-door meeting prior to a banquet at the presidential compound and discussed the intertwined nature of the inter-Korean dialogue and talks on denuclearization, according to Moon’s press secretary Yoon Young-chan. He told reporters that Ivanka pushed for a joint effort with South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea.

During the banquet, Ivanka said she had come to the Olympics to celebrate the games and also to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a “maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

In conjunction, the Trump administration announced sanctions on Friday on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses in North Korea. U.S. officials shared that the president had spoken to Moon about the action ahead of the announcement.

A North Korean delegation will attend Sunday’s closing ceremony as well, but it is unlikely that Ivanka will meet with them. Vice president Mike Pence sat in the same box with Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s sister, during the opening ceremony, but the pair did not interact.

Moon is hopeful that the Olympics will open an avenue of peace between the divided nations. “North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” he said in a statement.