Vice President Mike Pence stopped in Alaska on Monday on his way to Asia where he’ll lead the U.S. Olympic delegation in South Korea.
During his refueling stop at Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Pence toured the Alaskan Command Center. He also had a closed-door meeting with Gov. Bill Walker and top military officials, including Gen. Lori Robinson, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves and Maj. Gen. Laurie Hummel.
Pence took questions from the press inside an airplane hangar at JBER. Standing in front of an F-22 fighter jet, the Vice President emphasized Alaska’s role in the American missile defense system.
“Alaska is the home of missile defense, for all intents and purposes in the United States, particularly with regard to the rogue regime in North Korea,” Pence said. ” Alaska is ready, and America is ready.”
More than 40 of the nation’s ground-based missile interceptors are housed at Ft. Greely in Alaska’s Interior.
Pence’s visit was a reinforcement of Alaska’s strategic importance, but at the upcoming Olympic Games, North Korean athletes will team up with South Koreans — a move that has eased military tensions on the peninsula.
Still, Pence said, the nuclear threat from the North should not be underestimated.
“Whatever cooperation that’s existing between North and South Korea on Olympic teams,” Pence said, “does not cloud the reality of a regime that must continue to be isolated by the world community.”
The Trump administration has used harsh rhetoric at times against the regime in North Korea.
But, as Pence reminded the press at the airplane hangar at JBER, Trump is a talker, so a meeting with members of the regime isn’t completely off the table when he’s in South Korea.
“With regard to any interaction with the North Korean delegation, I have not requested a meeting, but we’ll see what happens.”
From Alaska, Pence flew to Japan, to meet with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe before continuing on to the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer.
Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF.
Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about.
Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.
