Vice President Mike Pence, the leader of the United States' Olympic delegation, has promised the "toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever," just days before both countries meet in Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Games.
The VP said on Monday that he might be open to meeting with North Korea representatives during the Winter Games in South Korea, as CBS News reported, but his tone changed in an announcement Wednesday:
Pence revealed the Trump administration's plans to further punish dictator Kim Jong Un's regime, at a joint news conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"The United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever -- and we will continue to isolate North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs once and for all," Pence said, providing no further detail on what the latest round of sanctions will entail.
The sanctions, CBS News said, figure to be implemented before the end of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Although both North and South Korea plan to march and even compete together during the Games, the United States' tensions with North Korea and Kim Jong Un have been a chief concern of U.S. officials and Olympic fans.
Pence's remarks come just a day after one Team USA athlete, Gus Kenworthy, who is openly gay, called Pence a "bad fit" to lead the country into the Olympics because of his history of anti-LBGT stances.
