{"id":57996,"date":"2018-02-11T21:31:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T21:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/11\/mattis-too-early-to-tell-if-olympics-will-lead-to-north-korea-breakthrough\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:50:21","slug":"mattis-too-early-to-tell-if-olympics-will-lead-to-north-korea-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2018\/02\/11\/mattis-too-early-to-tell-if-olympics-will-lead-to-north-korea-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis: \u2018Too early to tell\u2019 if Olympics will lead to North Korea breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ROME \u2013 While the Olympics provides a backdrop for the highest level communications between North and South Korea in years, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is warning not to overestimate what may be said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClearly, it\u2019s too early to say if using the Olympics in a way to reduce tensions, if that is going to have any traction once the Olympics are over,\u201d Mattis said Sunday while en route to Europe. \u201cWe can\u2019t say right now.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if he thought the discussions between South Korean president Moon Jae-In and Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, were a good early sign about tensions easing, Mattis reiterated that it was \u201ctoo early\u201d to make any calls \u2014 but pointed to North Korea\u2019s most recent military parade<\/a> as perhaps a more realistic sign of where things stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the midst of all this, [Kim] ran a military parade that highlighted his ballistic missiles. That\u2019s a very strange time if, in fact, he is trying to feel warming to the country that he has attacked repeatedly as an American puppet,\u201d Mattis said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s too early to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\t