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| Ivanka Trump, daughter of the U.S. President Donald Trump / Yonhap |
By Kim Bo-eun, Choi Ha-young
Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, reiterated a maximum pressure campaign against North Korea, in a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Friday.
She said Washington and Seoul "reaffirmed commitment to a maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized," ahead of a dinner hosted by Moon at Cheong Wa Dae.
"We continue to reaffirm our joint values and strategic cooperation as partners and allies," she said.
Ivanka leads the U.S. delegation which arrived in Seoul earlier in the day, to attend the Games' closing ceremony on Sunday. The delegation includes Senator James Risch, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Allison Hooker, a National Security Council (NSC) official specializing in Korean affairs.
Cheong Wa Dae accommodated the dinner for Ivanka, who is known to observe dietary laws of the Jewish faith. Adherents do not eat shellfish or pork and keep dairy and meat products separate.
Ivanka is set to spend the remainder of her four-day visit in PyeongChang, where she will watch events involving Americans, cheer on athletes and attend Sunday's closing ceremony.
Meanwhile, there are expectations of possible contact between Washington and Pyongyang on the sidelines of the Olympics.
North Korea's Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers' Party of Korea's United Front Department and Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, will attend the ceremony. They will arrive on Sunday for a three-day visit.
Although the Trump and Moon administrations claim there are no plans for meetings between U.S. and North Korean delegates, attention is focusing on possible contact.
The U.S. and North Korean delegates will attend the closing ceremony together, but it remains to be seen if any contact will be made.
Earlier, there had been speculation that Ivanka might meet North Korean defectors during her visit, but no such meeting is included in her itinerary, according to both governments.
There were no meetings between the U.S. delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence and the North Korean delegation including Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong when they attended the opening ceremony.
The North Korean delegation canceled talks two hours before the scheduled time, according to U.S. officials.
Among the U.S. delegates, Allison Hooker once met North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol in 2014.
Hooker is known as an architect of former U.S. President Barack Obama's Korean policy, and now serves for Trump administration. In November 2014, she flew to North Korea to secure the release of American detainees Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller. This is where she met Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers' Party of Korea's United Front Department.
Kim, who is accused of having orchestrated North Korean attacks on the South including the Cheonan sinking, the bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island and landmine explosions in the demilitarized zone, is supposed to attend the closing ceremony. Ivanka is also scheduled to be there.
In September and December 2014, Hooker visited South Korea in an attempt to revive the "six-party talks," the multilateral dialogue dedicated to resolving North Korea's nuclear issue.
Last May, she visited the South in preparation for a summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump. Before joining the NSC, Hooker worked at the Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research as an analyst specializing in East Asia and Pacific affairs.
Both Seoul and Washington said Ivanka would not meet North Korean officials. However, Hooker's role may involve coordinating possible talks between the U.S. and North Korea considering her experience negotiating with Kim and tackling nuclear negotiations.
Former South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said in a recent radio interview he believes the Moon administration had coordinated a secret meeting.
"The North Korean delegate would have felt insulted by Pence's cold shoulder," Jeong said. "I believe the North Koreans thought a planned meeting with Pence would bring about no meaningful outcome."
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