US Vice President Mike Pence was en route to Asia on Tuesday on a trip that takes him to the Winter Olympics in South Korea where his itinerary underlines Washington’s stance that North Korea is trying to use the Games for crude propaganda. As his guest for the Games opening ceremony on Friday, Pence is bringing the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months and died in June 2017 from lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. Pence will also visit a memorial for 46 South Korean sailors killed in 2010 in the sinking of a warship that Seoul blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. “The vice president will be there with Mr. Warmbier at the opening ceremony … to remind the world of the atrocities that happen in North Korea,” a White House official said on Monday. “Through the participation of North Korea, the ‘Peace Olympics’ has been realised and this will lead a foundation to improve inter-Korean relations,” Games chief Lee Hee-beom told reporters.

Source: Egypt Independent February 06, 2018 07:30 UTC