Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he chose not to acknowledge the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his recent trip to South Korea and the Olympics.
"I didn't avoid the dictator's sister, but I did ignore her," Pence said during an Axios event. "I didn't believe it was proper for the United States of America to give any countenance or attention in that forum to someone who's not merely the sister of the dictator, but is the leader of the propaganda effort."
The Washington Times reported that Pence continued to speak about Kim Yo Jong during the question and answer session.
"You have to remember this is a family that very recently ordered that their brother be murdered using chemical weapons, and the world saw that in horror on airport videos reproduced," Pence said, referencing the death of Kim Jong Nam last year. "This is a regime and a family that also ordered that their uncle be executed with artillery fire in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, and she's the leader of the propaganda effort of that government."
Pence and his wife Karen attended the Opening Ceremony at the Winter Olympics last Friday night and was seated a few feet away from Kim, who was in the row behind the couple. The Pence's did not turn around to greet her and did not stand up when a unified North Korea-South Korea team entered the stadium during the parade of nations.
"This is evil the likes of which we have witnessed rarely in our time around the world," Pence said. "And I wanted to send by my silence a very clear message: that the people of the United States of America know who we're dealing with, and that we're going to continue to stand firmly and stand strong with resolve and with our allies until the regime in North Korea ceases to threaten our country and our allies with nuclear and ballistic missiles.
"And we will continue to hold them to account on their appalling record of abuse of human rights of their own people."
North Korea is pursuing a nuclear arsenal and has threatened to attack South Korea and the United States on several occasions.