US Vice President Mike Pence vows to 'take whatever action necessary' against North Korea
Tensions between US and North Korea continue during Winter Olympics opening ceremony
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Your support makes all the difference.US Vice-President Mike Pence has vowed to "take what action is necessary" against North Korea while attending the 23rd Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
“President Trump and, and our allies in the region have agreed to delay our military exercises until after the Olympics," he told NBC News.
“But we're gonna make it crystal clear that our military, the Japanese self-defense forces, our allies here in South Korea, all of our allies across the region, are, are fully prepared to defend our nations and to take what is — action is necessary to defend our homeland."
He added: “We're going to continue to put all the pressure to bear economically and diplomatically, while preserving all of our military options to see that that happens."
The US Vice President sat feet away from the sister of the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong during the opening ceremony but appeared not to acknowledge her or the leader of the secretive communist state's delegation, the 90 year-old Kim Yong Nam.
Mr Pence stood up only for the US team even though other dignitaries rose to their feet to applaud the joint arrival of athletes from both North and South Korea.
The two teams joined hands and marched into the Olympic Stadium together for the first time in 11 years while holding a white flag with the blue Korean peninsula in the middle.
North Korea continued its "charm offensive" at the Games when Kim Yo Jong delivered an invitation to the South Korean president Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang in the North.
Mr Moon met Ms Kim for lunch at the presidential mansion in Seoul on Saturday, shook hands with a delegation from North Korea and praised them for "braving the cold".
Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Mr Moon told Kim Yo Jong that the North and South should continue to build conditions for a summit and the US should resume talks with the North should quickly resume dialogue.
Mr Pence has not yet responded to the news of the invitation and in his latest tweet denounced what he called the "propaganda charade" by the North Korean regime.
The Vice President's spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said he was "grateful that President Moon reaffirmed his strong commitment to the global maximum pressure campaign and for his support for continued sanctions."
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