Pence calls 'murderous' North Korea 'the most tyrannical regime on the planet' despite trying to MEET with them during the Olympics

  • Vice President Mike Pence opened up with both barrels on North Korea during his CPAC speech on Thursday
  • He was criticized two weeks ago both for disrespecting the unified Korean Olympic team and for planning a secret meeting with North Korean emissaries
  • He blasted the hermit nation on Thursday as 'murderous' and 'tyrannical'
  • A Pence spokesman now says the veep would not have moderated his message if he had met with a delegation from communist Pyongyang
  • 'His message – whatever the setting, whoever is present – is the same,' the spokesman insisted

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com In Oxon Hill, Maryland

Published: 12:37 EST, 22 February 2018 | Updated: 13:19 EST, 22 February 2018

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence unleashed a scathing attack on 'murderous' and 'tyrannical' North Korea during a speech Thursday to the Conservative Political Action Conference, despite his willingness to sit down for direct talks with the communist dictatorship just two weeks ago.

But a Pence spokesman told DailyMail.com after the speech that Pence would hav used the opportunity to take a hard line with the totalitarian state. 

In a red meat-filled address near Washington, Pence recalled the media firestorm that erupted following the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The vice president was pilloried in some media outlets for refusing to stand while the North and South marched as a unified team, and for ignoring despot Kim Jong-Un's sister Kim Yo Jong – who was seated just a few feet away from him.

Yet he openly courted the idea of a meeting with Pyongyang's emissaries – until the North Koreans walked away.

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Vice President Mike Pence slammed North Korea on Thursday during the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference

Vice President Mike Pence slammed North Korea on Thursday during the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference

Just a few weeks ago Pence was willing to meet personally with North Korean diplomats during the early days of the Winter Olympics, but it was the dictatorship that pulled out

Just a few weeks ago Pence was willing to meet personally with North Korean diplomats during the early days of the Winter Olympics, but it was the dictatorship that pulled out

Pence spokesman Nick Ayers said at the time that it was the North that 'dangled a meeting in hopes of the vice president softening his message.'  

But he acknowledged that 'they walked away from a meeting' that Pence was willing to entertain.

On Thursday Pence spokesman Jarrod Agen said it was 'absolutely correct' to say Pence was planning to stare down America's adversary.

'His message – whatever the setting, whoever is present – is the same,' Agen said. 

'He would have delivered the same message privately that he did publicly: sanctions and the maximum pressure campaign will only intensify until the Kim Regime completely, verifiably, and permanently abandons its nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile program.'

The Washington Post reported that Kim's representatives, including his sister, abandoned the get-together within two hours of its scheduled time.

Yet on Thursday at CPAC, Pence's rhetorical olive branch was nowhere to be found.

Pence didn't mention his diplomatic openness when he told a cheering CPAC crowd that 'the United States of America doesn't stand with murderous dictatorships. We stand up to murderous dictatorships'

Pence didn't mention his diplomatic openness when he told a cheering CPAC crowd that 'the United States of America doesn't stand with murderous dictatorships. We stand up to murderous dictatorships'

Pence (right) was pilloried in the press for not standing as unified North and South Korean athletes marched during the opening ceremonies in PyeongChang

Pence (right) was pilloried in the press for not standing as unified North and South Korean athletes marched during the opening ceremonies in PyeongChang

'For all the media fawning over the sister of the North Korean dictator,' he said, 'I think it's important that every American knows who this person is and what she has done.'

'The sister of Kim Jong-Un is the central pillar of the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet, an evil family clique that brutalizes, subjugates and starves and imprisons its 25 million people.'

'People are routinely jailed and executed for the most minor acts of defiance' there, he said, calling the hermit nation a perpetrator of 'crimes against humanity.'

'For all those in the media who think I should have stood and cheered with the North Koreans,' he added, as boos and hisses rained down, 'I say the United States of America doesn't stand with murderous dictatorships. We stand up to murderous dictatorships.' 

Pence's wife Karen introduced the normally mild-mannered veep as 'Rush Limbaugh on decaf' and said he has non-alcoholic beer every Friday on 'pizza night'

Pence's wife Karen introduced the normally mild-mannered veep as 'Rush Limbaugh on decaf' and said he has non-alcoholic beer every Friday on 'pizza night'

Pence's raised voice stood in stark contrast to his wife Karen's introduction of him.

Referring to a famous flame-throwing conservative radio host, the second lady called her husband 'Rush Limbaugh on decaf.'

She also revealed that the vice president is an avid horse rider, a former cartoonist, and a faithful observer of a weekly non-alcoholic family meal tradition.

'If it's Friday night, we'd better be having pizza for dinner. Supreme, thin crust – with an O'Doul's.'

A diplomatic thaw between the U.S. and North Korea doesn't seem any closer than it did when President Donald Trump said in November during a speech to South Korea's National Assembly that like in the North is 'horror' for millions.  

'An estimated 100,000 North Koreans suffer in gulags, toiling in forced labor, and enduring torture, starvation, rape, and murder on a constant basis,' he said then.

'The horror of life in North Korea is so complete that citizens pay bribes to government officials to have themselves exported aboard as slaves.' 

First daughter Ivanka Trump is headed to Pyeongchang on Thursday to represent the U.S. at the Olympics closing ceremonies.

A senior White House official said Wednesday that Ms. Trump, also a senior adviser to the president, has no intention of making entreaties to North Korea while she is there or meeting with its delegates.

She is also not planning to meet with North Korean defectors who have escaped to the South, the official added. 

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