Thursday 4 August 2022 06:49 PM Nancy Pelosi stares down North Korea with visit to the DMZ trends now
Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the heavily-fortified DMZ during her trip to South Korea on Thursday, another controversial stop after her touchdown in Taiwan.
Her visit to the 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide zone separating North and South Korea made her the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the area since President Donald Trump met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un there in 2019.
Pelosi confirmed the visit by posting photos to her social media accounts and issuing a press release. She said, during her time on the border, she thanked the U.S. service members there, 'who stand as sentinels of Democracy on the Korean peninsula.'
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol told Pelosi her trip to the DMZ, where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face, was seen as 'a sign of strong deterrence between South Korea and the US against North Korea.'
But Yoon came under fire for not meeting face-to-face with speaker, instead holding a 40-minute phone call with her because he is on summer vacation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her congressional delegation visited the heavily-fortified DMZ during their trip to South Korea
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she agreed to support Seoul's efforts to denuclearize Pyongyang
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to South Asia has caused several headaches for the Biden administration
Speaker Pelosi is highest-ranking US official to visit DMZ since then-president Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un there in 2019. Trump and Kim Jong-Un are pictured during their meeting
She did meet with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and other senior members of parliament, where she agreed to support Seoul's efforts to denuclearize Pyongyang.
'Both sides expressed concerns about the dire situation of North Korea's growing threat,' Pelosi and National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said in a joint statement after meeting in Seoul.
'We agreed to support the efforts of the two governments to achieve practical denuclearisation and peace through international cooperation and diplomatic dialogue, based on the strong and extended deterrence against the North.'
South Korean media speculated that Yoon didn't want to meet Pelosi in person to avoid antagonising China, which remains furious over her visit to Taiwan.
North Korea also slammed Pelosi for visiting Taiwan. China is North Korea's main ally and economic partner.
A spokesperson for Pyongyang's foreign ministry said Pelosi's trip to Taipei was an example of 'impudent interference of the U.S. in internal affairs of other countries,' North Korea's state media reported.
Such U.S. moves, the foreign ministry said 'are,
