Ivanka Trump sat down Thursday with South Korea’s foreign minister for a meeting whose purpose remains a mystery.
Kang Kyung-wha and the president’s elder daughter struck up a friendship during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the White House told Newsweek, saying that ‘[t]he foreign minister asked for the meeting.’
South Korea’s foreign ministry tweeted a photo of their reunion on Thursday, showing the pair seated at a large round table with bread and flowers.
‘One month later [after] their last meeting in Pyeongchang, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s senior advisor met again in Washington,’ the tweet from Thursday at dinnertime read.
Ivanka Trump met with South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha in Washington Friday?
‘The meeting took place during Minister Kang’s visit to Washington between March 15 and 17.’
Kang’s arrival in Washington came just 48 hours after President Donald Trump fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
That left Acting Secretary John Sullivan to shoulder the actual diplomatic load.
Neither side revealed the nature of their meeting, which comes at a time of intense uncertainty about North Korea.
President Trump stunned the political world last week when he said he would accept an invitation to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The invite offer was conveyed by a visiting South Korean delegation at the White House.
South Korea’s foreign ministry tweeted about the meeting, without revealing its purpose
ROOM FOR MORE: The Ivanka Trump meeting was part of a series of stops made by the South Korean foreign minister
WE SHOULD CONSIDER DOING THIS INDOORS: (L-R) Ivanka Trump, South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook and South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha attend the Snowboard – Men’s Big Air Final on day 15 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea
LUGE DEVELOPMENT: Ivanka Trump (L), wife of Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kim Jung-sook (C) and Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha (R)take a selfie while watching the final of the men’s snowboard big air event at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang
SHE ALSO MET THIS GUY: Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan greets South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha prior to a meeting at the State Department March 16, 2018 in Washington, DC
THERE WERE OTHER MYSTERIOUS MEETINGS FRIDAY: North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho leaves the Swedish government building Rosenbad in central Stockholm, Sweden, Friday, March 16, 2018
KBS World Radio in South Korea cited speculation the two would exchange information about the forthcoming meeting between Trump and Kim.
The North Koreans have so far failed to issue a public response to the president’s surprise statement last week.
However, the signs of a diplomatic channel could be seen in Sweden, where the foreign minister held a ‘good and constructive’ meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom wouldn’t say after the meeting at a Stockholm villa what was discussed or whether a Trump-Kim meeting was discussed.
YOU TAKE MEXICO, I GOT THIS: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Ivanka Trump, and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 08, 2018
Sweden acts at the U.S. protective power in North Korea, handling diplomatic affairs on behalf of the U.S. in the hermetic nation.
“We’ll see what happens next,” Wallstrom said, the Associated Press reported.
In the U.S., the South Korean minister also had plans to meet House Speaker Paul Ryan. She met Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner and other lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Kang also mentioned an upcoming inter-Korean summit of the U.S. and her nation, saying they will “become significant milestones in terms of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and thereby to expedite the denuclearization and the establishment of a lasting peace on the Peninsula,’ her ministry said in a statement.
She also blasted ‘unintended negative ramifications’ of U.S. steel tariffs imposed by President Trump.
Ivanka Trump is a senior advisor in her father’s White House, whose areas of focus have included women’s empowerment. She held several meetings to advance provisions in the $1.5 trillion tax cut such a expanding the child tax credit.