Pence Does Not ‘Rule Out’ Meeting N. Korean Officials

Vice President Mike Pence said he isn’t ruling out a meeting with North Korean officials as he prepares to attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The vice president told reporters in Anchorage, Alaska, that he hasn’t requested such a meeting but adds, “We’ll see what happens.”

Vice President Pence stopped in Anchorage, to visit missile defense facilities that monitor and could respond to a launch by North Korea. The vice president is on his way to Japan and then South Korea for the Olympics.

The vice president received a briefing with U.S. Northern Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. He touted the coming deployment of an additional 20 ground-based interceptors that would respond to launch.

He said that his message will always be the same — that North Korea “must once and for all abandon its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile ambitions.”

The vice president is on a six-day trip designed to increase pressure on North Korea.