hankyoreh

Ivanka Trump smiles as she departs from Incheon International Airport to return to Washington

White House adviser and aide Ivanka Trump, who is oldest daughter of US President Donald Trump, departed South Korea on the morning of Feb. 26 after visiting at the head of a US delegation attending the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony. As she left, Trump expressed “thanks for the warm hospitality” she received in South Korea.

Trump, who arrived on Feb. 23 for a four-day visit, met with reporters at Incheon International Airport as she prepared to head home on the morning of Feb. 26.

“It was a wonderful first visit [to South Korea] and just exciting and beautiful,” she said. “I look forward to returning back.”

Trump did not reply when asked for her position on the North Korean Workers’ Party vice chairman Kim Yong-chol’s remarks the day before expressing hopes for dialogue with Washington.

Upon her arrival in South Korea on Feb. 23, Trump had dinner with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Blue House following a closed-door meeting that lasted more than 40 minutes. After that, she headed to Gangwon Province, where she cheered on American athletes who were competing in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Aside from delivering US President Donald Trump’s message about sanctions against North Korea during her meeting with Moon, Ivanka Trump appears to have refrained from any political behavior. The close proximity of her seat to Kim Yong-chol during the closing ceremony on Feb. 25 had raised the possibility of a meeting between the two, but the ceremony ended without them even acknowledging the other’s presence.

There had also been talk about a possible meeting between Allison Hooker, who heads up Korean affairs for the White House’s National Security Council, and Choe Kang Il, the deputy director-general for North American affairs at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry who visited South Korea on Feb. 25 as part of North Korea’s high-ranking delegation. However, an official from the US Embassy in South Korea said that no contact of any kind was made by the US delegation and North Korean officials during their visit to South Korea, and Hooker reportedly left South Korea with Trump on Feb. 26..

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]