Ahead of the reception, hosted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, South Korean media said Pence was expected to be seated opposite Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, at the 12-seat head table. At the opening ceremony, Kim Yong-nam and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, waved to North and South Korean athletes who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade. The high-ranking North Korean delegation had landed in South Korea earlier in the day aboard Kim Jong-un’s white private jet which had the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, inscribed in black in Korean on its side, and followed by the North Korean flag. She was the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to visit the South, while Kim Yong-nam was the most senior North Korean official to make a cross-border trip. Riots and gamesPence had kept open the possibility for some contact with the North Koreans in South Korea while reiterating Washington’s insistence that denuclearization by North Korea is a necessary condition for permanent peace.

Source: Pakistan Today February 10, 2018 07:30 UTC