VP Pence Travels to Asia on a Mission to Hold N Korea Accountable

Vice President Mike Pence stopped in Alaska to tour missile defense facilities Monday on the first stop of a six-day trip designed to increase pressure on North Korea. 

"We'll be telling the truth about North Korea at every stop," Pence told reporters at the facilities which are designed to respond to a launch by the communist regime. 

"We'll be ensuring that whatever cooperation that's existing between North and South Korea today on Olympic teams does not cloud the reality of a regime that must continue to be isolated by the world community," Pence said.

The vice president will be bringing Fred Warmbier, father of Otto Warmbier, to the Winter Olympics. 

Otto Warmbier was the US student who died in 2017 shortly after being released from North Korean captivity. 

"He & his wife remind the world of the atrocities happening in N Korea," Pence tweeted Monday before departing Washington.

The vice president is on his way to Japan and then will travel to the Olympic games in  South Korea.

In Japan, he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US service members.

While in South Korea, Pence will meet with President Moon Jae-in. He will also visit a memorial dedicated to the 46 South Korean sailors killed in a 2010 torpedo attack attributed to the North. 

The vice president has not ruled out meeting with the North Korean delegation during his trip. 

"Let me say President Trump has said he always believes in talking, but I haven't requested any meeting," Pence said. "But we'll see what happens."