SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence may encounter North Korea's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam on Friday as both will attend a reception hosted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, officials from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.
The dinner meeting will be held in Yongpyeong, just east of PyeongChang, hours before the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. It will involve 200 other dignitaries, including nearly two dozen global leaders. They include Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a ranking official of the Communist Party of China.
It remains to be seen whether Pence and Kim will hold a meaningful conversation.
The communist North said Thursday its delegates to the Olympic Games had no intention of meeting their U.S. counterparts while in South Korea.
The U.S. vice president arrived here Thursday, while Kim and other North Korean delegates, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Yo-jong, are set to arrive later in the day.
Shortly after the dinner, Moon and chief delegates of other countries will attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, located 180 kilometers east of Seoul.
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