Pence leaves for Asia with stern message on DPRK

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‍US Vice President Mike Pence departed on Monday for a trip to Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) where he will lead the US delegation to the Winter Olympics.

He stopped in Anchorage, Alaska, to visit missile defense facilities that monitor and could respond to a launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Pence received a briefing from US Northern Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. He touted the coming deployment of an additional 20 ground-based interceptors that would respond to any launch. He said missile defense is essential for the national defense of the US.

US Vice President Mike Pence addresses the Republican National Committee (RNC) Winter Meeting in Washington DC, Feb. 1, 2018. /AP Photo

Pence told reporters in Anchorage that he hasn't requested a meeting with DPRK officials but added, "We'll see what happens."

Pence said that his message will always be the same – that DPRK "must once and for all abandon its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile ambitions."

Attention on the Olympics in PyeongChang has sharpened as they were the catalyst for a resumption of dialogue between the ROK and the DPRK that eased the tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, is traveling to the ROK this week, making him the country's most senior official to do so since the Korean War ended with a truce in 1953.

Hundreds of officials, athletes, cheerleaders and artistic performers of DPRK are also expected to attend the games.

A DPRK art troupe leaving for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Monday. /VCG Photo

Despite an optimistic tone by the ROK's Blue House, which cited DPRK's desire to improve relations on the peninsula, White House officials are not convinced.

They want to keep focus on DPRK's disregard for calls to halt its nuclear program and continued flouting of UN rules.

The Americans also hope to convince allies to keep putting pressure on Pyongyang.

Pence is taking a guest to the Olympics: Fred Warmbier, the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was imprisoned in DPRK for 17 months and died in June 2017, soon after being released by DPRK, for what is believed to be lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.

"The vice president will be there with Mr Warmbier at the opening ceremony ... to remind the world of the atrocities that happen in (DPRK)," a White House official said.

US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence visiting the Seoul National Cemetery in Seoul, April 16, 2017. /VCG Photo

On Friday Pence will also visit a memorial for 46 ROK sailors killed in 2010 in the sinking of a warship that Seoul blamed on a DPRK torpedo attack.

Pence will land on Japan Tuesday. There he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visit troops at Yokota Air Base before departing for Seoul on Thursday, where he will meet with ROK President Moon Jae-in.

After the memorial visit, Pence heads to PyeongChang for the opening ceremony of the winter Olympic Games and remains at the Games until Saturday.