North Korea has snubbed Mike Pence after cancelling crunch talks at the Winter Olympics in South Korea, The Sun reports.
The US Vice President was scheduled to meet with officials, including Kim Jong Un's sister, later this month but the appointment was cancelled at the last minute.
US Vice President Mike Pence was due to meet with North Korean officials at the Winter Olympics this month
Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers, said: "North Korea dangled a meeting in hopes of the Vice President softening his message, which would have ceded the world stage for their propaganda during the Olympics."
But after Pence condemned North Korean human rights abuses and announced plans for new economic sanctions, he said "they walked away from a meeting or perhaps they were never sincere about sitting down."
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says that Pence "was ready to take this opportunity" and would have used the meeting to emphasise US concerns about the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Nauert says the US. regrets North Korea's "failure to seize this opportunity."