VP Mike Pence Denounces Media's 'Fawning Over' North Korean Dictator's Sister
Vice President Mike Pence has denounced the positive portrayal that mainstream media gave North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un's sister during the Winter Olympics.
Vice President Pence garnered criticism from some media outlets for refusing to stand when the unified Korea team debuted in Pyeongchang and to meet with North Korean officials.
Kim Yo Jong, sister to the head of North Korea, on the other hand, received many positive headlines, such as from The New York Times that reads "Kim Jong-un's Sister Turns On the Charm, Taking Pence's Spotlight."
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Speaking Thursday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Pence said he took issue with "all the media fawning over the sister of the North Korean dictator," adding that he felt it important "that every American knows who this person is and what she's done."
"The sister of Kim Jong Un is a central pillar of the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet. An evil family clique that brutalizes, subjugates, starves, and imprisons its 25 million people," said Pence.
"Even the United Nations reported that in their words the gravity, scale, and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have a 'parallel in the contemporary world.'"
Pence went on to explain that "the United States government has sanctioned" Kim Yo Jong due to "her role in abetting North Korea's horrendous human rights abuses and crimes against humanity."
"So for all those in the media who think I should have stood and cheered with the North Koreans, I say the United States of America doesn't stand with murderous dictatorships, we stand up to murderous dictatorships," declared Pence, receiving heavy applause and cheers from the CPAC crowd.
"And we will keep standing strong until North Korea stops threatening our country, our allies, or until they abandon their nuclear and ballistic missiles once and for all."
Pence's remarks came during the 2018 CPAC conference, held annually at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The event lasts Thursday through Saturday.
Hosted by the American Conservative Union, the event is considered the largest annual conservative gathering in the country.
In addition to Pence, President Donald Trump is scheduled to address CPAC on Friday, as well as administration officials like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.
Pence is not the only one to criticize the sympathetic portrayal of Kim Yo-Jong in many American and Korean news outlets.
In an opinion column for The Washington Post published Feb. 14, Lucy K. Pick of the Divinity School in the University of Chicago compared her to medieval European monarchies, where royal sisters oftentimes played key roles in the government.
"Kim Yo Jong's actions match those of her medieval predecessors. She puts a friendly, feminine face on the regime for public consumption, which softens its image," wrote Pick.
"Kim Yo Jong may not have come across as a menacing, powerful figure, but like her medieval predecessors she probably wields as much influence as anyone in North Korea, short of Kim Jong Un."
