WASHINGTON: Ivanka Trump will lead the US delegation to the closingceremony of the Olympics in South Korea on Sunday, the latest high-profilevisit to Winter Games that have been a hotbed of geopolitics.
The White House said Donald Trump had asked his eldest daughter — who isalso one of his top advisers — to travel to Pyeongchang to lead up a “highlevel delegation.”
The 36-year-old businesswoman and model-turned-policy-advisor will bejoined by press secretary Sarah Sanders and is going in part because “sheis something of a winter sports enthusiast,” an official said.
A senior administration official ruled out any possible meeting betweenIvanka and officials from North Korea.
For ten days, as athletes have competed on the slopes, rinks and runs,North Korea and the United States have used the Games to try and shapepublic opinion.
The two nuclear powers are locked in a standoff over North Korea´s nuclearand ballistic missile programs, which could soon threaten the continentalUnited States.
Visitors to Pyeongchang included Vice President Mike Pence as well as NorthKorea´s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam and Kim Yo Jong, thetelegenic sister of leader Kim Jong Un.
The Games´ opening ceremony saw Pence and the North Korean representativesseated in the same box, but they did not interact.
They had planned to meet secretly while in South Korea, but US officialssaid Pyongyang scrapped the plan after Pence denounced North Korea´s”murderous regime.”
Pyongyang has used the Games to try to soften its image and push for talkswith Seoul that could cut the odds of a US military strike.
Meanwhile Washington has tried to project resolve in the face of a growingnuclear threat and repeatedly tried to underscore the importance of atroubled alliance with Seoul.
Ivanka Trump is scheduled to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in onFriday, another salvo in that diplomatic back-and-forth.
“The upcoming visit by adviser Ivanka is intended to celebrate thesuccessful hosting of the Pyeongchang Olympics and highlight the mutualunderstanding of the South Korea-US alliance,” Noh Kyu-duk, spokesman forthe foreign ministry in Seoul, said Tuesday, according to the Yonhap newsagency.
The distance between Seoul and Washington was laid bare in a meetingbetween Moon and a North Korean delegation, during which Kim Jong Un´ssister passed on his invitation to visit Pyongyang for a summit.
Despite that, Washington has said it will maintain its campaign of “maximumpressure” on Pyongyang. – APP / AFP