[Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Aju News) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged the United States Monday to lower the threshold for dialogue with North Korea after U.S. officials including the daughter of President Donald Trump cold-shouldered high-level delegations from the nuclear-armed country.
Moon has been engaged in a flurry of Olympic diplomacy since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to dispatch athletes, cheerleaders, an art troupe and high-level delegations one after another in a hectic peace offensive that created a hard-won thaw in cross-border relations.
Moon had tried to set the stage for unplanned contact between U.S. and North Korean officials at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, but both U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump turned away their heads.
"The United States needs to lower the threshold for dialogue and North Korea, too, must show its willingness to denuclearize," Moon said at talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong at the presidential Blue House. Liu sat near Ivanka at the closing ceremony on Sunday.
Moon urged China to help Washington and Pyongyang sit down on the dialogue table at an early date, saying North Korea now shows its willingness to "actively" seek dialogue with the United States, according to a Blue House statement.
Liu supported an inter-Korean thaw created by Moon's Olympic diplomacy, and the South Korean leader pledged full support for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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