Trump to meet with North Korean defectors in Oval Office

President Trump will meet with eight North Korean defectors in the Oval Office on Friday as his administration moves to increase pressure on Pyongyang ahead of the Winter Olympic Games.

The Washington Post reports that Trump will meet with eight North Koreans who escaped the country and defected to South Korea and the U.S., a move likely to spark condemnations by Kim Jong Un’s government.

Friday’s meeting was organized by Greg Scarlatoiu at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, according to a Post source close to the meeting. Trump mentioned North Korea’s human rights abuses during his State of the Union address earlier this week.

{mosads}“No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea,” Trump said Tuesday. “North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland.”

The Trump administration has put newfound pressure on North Korea ahead of the Winter Olympics, which are being held this month in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and will feature for the first time a joint team featuring athletes from both the North and South.

The Olympic Games have led to increased cooperation and negotiations between North and South Korea, which Trump has personally taken credit for starting with his rhetoric aimed at North Korea’s leader.

“I spoke to the president, as you know, with President Moon [Jae-in] of South Korea. He thanked me very much for my tough stance and, you know, for 25 years they haven’t been using a tough stance,” the president said last month.

“I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics. We have a very good relationship with South Korea,” Trump added.