--- title: Mike Pence: U.S. Interested In North Korea Nuclear Talks description: The U.S. is ready to engage in talks about North Korea’s nuclear program according to an interview with Vice President Mike Pence canonical: https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-12T05:12:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:14:24.773Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Pence Raises Possibility of Talks With North Korea og:description: Pence called the strategy "maximum pressure and engagement at the same time" og:url: https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c6585ec34a57870/69892717929fad1317bef91c/gettyimages-916499194.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5241 og:image:height: 2948 og:image:alt: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Visits South Korea - Day 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mike Pence Raises Possibility of Talks With North Korea twitter:description: Pence called the strategy "maximum pressure and engagement at the same time" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c6585ec34a57870/69892717929fad1317bef91c/gettyimages-916499194.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vice President Mike Pence Says the U.S. Is Ready For Talks With North Korea > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [David Tweed / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## David Tweed / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 12, 2018 5:12 AM UTC  Vice President Mike Pence watches short track speed skating in Gangneung, South Korea on Feb. 10, 2018. Vice President Mike Pence watches short track speed skating in Gangneung, South Korea on Feb. 10, 2018. Carl Court—Getty Images by [David Tweed / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## David Tweed / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 12, 2018 5:12 AM UTC The U.S. is ready to engage in talks about North Korea’s nuclear program even as it maintains pressure on Kim Jong Un’s regime, the Washington _Post_ reported, [citing an interview](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/pence-the-united-states-is-ready-to-talk-with-north-korea/2018/02/11/b5070ed6-0f33-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81%5Fstory.html) with Vice President Mike Pence. Pence and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in agreed on a post-Olympics strategy during conversations at the Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang that Pence dubbed “maximum pressure and engagement at the same time.” Pence spoke in an interview on his way home from the Winter Olympics. “The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization,” the _Post_ quoted Pence as saying. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.” The comments represent a departure from the Trump administration’s previous stance that it would not engage in any dialogue with North Korea unless Kim Jong Un’s regime first agreed to the goal of denuclearization. Pence endorsed a post-Olympics engagement after Moon assured him that the North Koreans wouldn’t get economic or diplomatic benefits for just talking — only for taking concrete steps toward denuclearization. “I think it is different from the last 20 years,” Pence said, according to the _Post_. When asked what exact steps North Korea would have to take to get sanctions relief, he said: “I don’t know.” [Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong](http://time.com/5143816/kim-yo-jong-olympics-2018/), delivered a letter inviting Moon to a summit in Pyongyang during meetings held around the opening ceremony of the Olympics. She also asked him to play a “leading role” in reuniting the two Koreas after nearly seven decades. A spokesperson for Moon’s office said that pre-conditions needed to be met before the summit takes place. The invitation had sparked concern that Kim had succeeded in driving a wedge between South Korea and the U.S., which have differed on the best way to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons. The _Post_ reported that Pence and Moon hammered out the new strategy during conversations at the presidential Blue House and during a speed-skating event. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/"},"headline":"Vice President Mike Pence Says the U.S. Is Ready For Talks With North Korea","datePublished":"2018-02-12T05:12:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:14:24.773Z","description":"The U.S. is ready to engage in talks about North Korea’s nuclear program according to an interview with Vice President Mike Pence","url":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Bloomberg","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c6585ec34a57870/69892717929fad1317bef91c/gettyimages-916499194.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Tweed / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c6585ec34a57870/69892717929fad1317bef91c/gettyimages-916499194.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Visits South Korea - Day 3","caption":"U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Visits South Korea - Day 3","creditText":"Carl Court—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/","name":"Vice President Mike Pence Says the U.S. Is Ready For Talks With North Korea"}}]}] ```