--- 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: 2026-10-12T08:57:43.484Z 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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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6ee0c7c4-cff7-40da-9fe2-899cc1a60857&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mike Pence Says He's Open to the Possibility of Meeting North Korean Officials at the Olympics [Watch (HLS stream): Mike Pence Says He's Open to the Possibility of Meeting North Korean Officials at the Olympics](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NXQ9zHnY.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2018-02-07. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said he has not ruled out the possibility of meeting with North Korean officials at the upcoming Olympics in South Korea._ by [David Tweed / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## David Tweed / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 12, 2018 5:12 AM UTC U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said he has not ruled out the possibility of meeting with North Korean officials at the upcoming Olympics in South Korea. 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. ## Transcript [00:00] We'll be telling the truth about North Korea at every [00:02] stop. We'll be insuring that whatever [00:08] cooperation that's existing between North and South [00:11] Korea today on Olympic teams does not cloud the [00:14] reality of a regime that must [00:19] continue to be [ INAUDIBLE ] Isolated by the world [00:21] community and it must be brought to [00:25] place where it earns its provocations, it ends its [00:28] development in possession of nuclear weapons and [00:32] ballistic missile weapons. With regard to any [00:34] interaction, with the North Korean delegation, i have [00:38] not requested a meeting but we'll see what happens. ```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":"2026-10-12T08:57:43.484Z","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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mike Pence Says He's Open to the Possibility of Meeting North Korean Officials at the Olympics","description":"U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said he has not ruled out the possibility of meeting with North Korean officials at the upcoming Olympics in South Korea.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NXQ9zHnY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-02-07T02:16:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NXQ9zHnY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/","duration":"PT43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5143897/mike-pence-north-korea-talks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```