PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter toured the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday, the morning after telling South Korea’s president that she will use her visit to the Pyeongchang Games to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, who is one of her father’s close advisers, is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games. Under cloudy skies, she watched her first event Saturday morning – Big Air snowboarding.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted to Trump how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet Friday night at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-Korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet. In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a ”maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said that Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.

In Pyeongchang on Saturday morning, Ivanka Trump watched snowboarders go on runs at the Big Air jump and saw American snowboarder Kyle Mack take a silver medal.

A smiling Trump, wearing a Team USA hat and red snowsuit, chatted with members of her delegation and South Korea first lady Kim Jung-suk. Also with her was IOC board member and 1998 hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero.

After the event ended, Trump spoke with some of the South Korean athletes who were guests of the delegation and posed for selfies.

A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it’s unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony, sat awkwardly in a VIP box with the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un behind him. The two had no apparent contact.

Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

”North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” Moon said.

Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States.

While the games appear to have paved the way for possible rapprochement between the Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute.

For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony.

The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Errin Haines Whack is a national writer for The Associated Press. Youkykung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul.</s>PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter toured the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday, the morning after telling South Korea’s president that she will use her visit to the Pyeongchang Games to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, who is one of her father’s close advisers, is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games. Under cloudy skies, she watched her first event Saturday morning – big-air snowboarding.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted to Trump how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet Friday night at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-Korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet. In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a ”maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said that Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.

In Pyeongchang on Saturday morning, Ivanka Trump watched snowboarders go on runs at the big-air jump. A smiling Trump, wearing a Team USA hat and red snowsuit, chatted with members of her delegation and South Korea first lady Kim Jung-suk. Also with her was IOC board member and 1998 hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero.

A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it’s unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony, sat awkwardly in a VIP box with the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un behind him. The two had no apparent contact.

Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

”North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” Moon said.

Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States.

While the games appear to have paved the way for possible rapprochement between the Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute.

For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony.

The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Errin Haines Whack is a national writer for The Associated Press. Youkykung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul.</s>Freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy made a public display of affection for his boyfriend this time that he was too scared to make after winning silver four years ago.

Freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy made a public display of affection for his boyfriend this time that he was too scared to make after winning silver four years ago.

For Gus Kenworthy (left) and Adam Rippon, Team USA's openly gay athletes, Pyeongchang 2018 will be defined not by medals, but milestones. (Source: Gus Kenworthy/Instagram/CNN)

For Gus Kenworthy (left) and Adam Rippon, Team USA's openly gay athletes, Pyeongchang 2018 will be defined not by medals, but milestones. (Source: Gus Kenworthy/Instagram/CNN)

Faux snow: Man-made snow to be used at Beijing Olympics and beyond.

Faux snow: Man-made snow to be used at Beijing Olympics and beyond.

(AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File). FILE- In this Feb. 12, 2018 file photo, course crew are shrouded in snow as they slip slide to the finish after the women's giant slalom was postponed due to high winds at the 2018 Winter Olympics at the Yongpyong Alpin...

(AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File). FILE- In this Feb. 12, 2018 file photo, course crew are shrouded in snow as they slip slide to the finish after the women's giant slalom was postponed due to high winds at the 2018 Winter Olympics at the Yongpyong Alpin...

Faux snow: Man-made snow to be used in Beijing and beyond

Faux snow: Man-made snow to be used in Beijing and beyond

The curling upset has also been compared to the “Miracle on Ice” performed by the U.S. men’s ice hockey team in 1980’s Winter Games.

The curling upset has also been compared to the “Miracle on Ice” performed by the U.S. men’s ice hockey team in 1980’s Winter Games.

Four gold medals are being awarded on the final day of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Four gold medals are being awarded on the final day of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

(Clive Mason/Pool Photo via AP). In the Friday, February 9, 2018 photo, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The International Olympic...

(Clive Mason/Pool Photo via AP). In the Friday, February 9, 2018 photo, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The International Olympic...

With the U.S. team facing its worst medal haul in 20 years at a Winter Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee's sports chief says he'll take a hard look at what occurred to try to avoid a repeat.

With the U.S. team facing its worst medal haul in 20 years at a Winter Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee's sports chief says he'll take a hard look at what occurred to try to avoid a repeat.

(AP Photo). This chart obtained by The Associated Press shows the U.S. Olympic Committee's medal projections for the 2018 Winter Games in a slide presented last year to the USOC board. The USOC targeted 37 medals for Team USA in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

(AP Photo). This chart obtained by The Associated Press shows the U.S. Olympic Committee's medal projections for the 2018 Winter Games in a slide presented last year to the USOC board. The USOC targeted 37 medals for Team USA in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Russia was banned from the Olympics on Dec. 5 because of widespread doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Russia was banned from the Olympics on Dec. 5 because of widespread doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel). Martin Ruzicka (27), of the Czech Republic, scores a goal past goalie Kevin Poulin (31), of Canada, during the first period of the men's bronze medal hockey game at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday...

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel). Martin Ruzicka (27), of the Czech Republic, scores a goal past goalie Kevin Poulin (31), of Canada, during the first period of the men's bronze medal hockey game at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday...

Wind, snow, ice or shine, the Winter Games had its share of golden moments that will forever be etched in Olympic lore.

Wind, snow, ice or shine, the Winter Games had its share of golden moments that will forever be etched in Olympic lore.

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko). Gold medal winners from left: United States' curlers Joe Polo, John Landsteiner, Matt Hamilton, Tyler George, John Shuster and captain Phill Drobnick stand on the podium during the men's curling venue ceremony at the 2018 ...

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko). Gold medal winners from left: United States' curlers Joe Polo, John Landsteiner, Matt Hamilton, Tyler George, John Shuster and captain Phill Drobnick stand on the podium during the men's curling venue ceremony at the 2018 ...

Tokyo ready for its second Summer Games determined to show the rest of the world that it has not fallen behind other economic powers in East Asia.

Tokyo ready for its second Summer Games determined to show the rest of the world that it has not fallen behind other economic powers in East Asia.

(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File). FILE - In this April 28, 2017, file photo, a woman looks at the construction site of the new National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. Tokyo used its famous 1964 Olympics to show off a miracu...

(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File). FILE - In this April 28, 2017, file photo, a woman looks at the construction site of the new National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. Tokyo used its famous 1964 Olympics to show off a miracu...

(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda). A volunteer pushes another volunteer on a chair on the ice after the last speedskating race at the Gangneung Oval at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018.

(Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP). Kim Yong Chol, center, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, arrives to attend the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) - The overtly political 2018 Winter Olympics closed Sunday night very much as they began, with humanity's finest athletes marching exuberantly across the world stage as three nations with decades of war and suspicion among them shared a VIP box - and a potential path away from conflict.

Senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. presidential adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump sat in two rows of seats behind the Olympic rings, meant to represent a competition of peace and international unity. In close proximity - though with no apparent communication between Trump and Kim - they watched a spirited, elaborate show that concluded the Pyeongchang Games.

Even as dancers performed cultural stories to music before a huge crowd, South Korea's presidential office released a brief statement saying that Pyongyang had expressed willingness to hold talks with Washington.

The North has "ample intentions of holding talks with the United States," according to the office. The North's delegation also agreed that "South-North relations and U.S.-North Korean relations should be improved together," Moon's office, known as the Blue House, said.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, just before declaring the games closed, addressed the two Koreas' cooperation at the closing ceremony, saying, "The Olympic games are an homage to the past and an act of faith for the future."

"With your joint march you have shared your faith in a peaceful future with all of us," Bach said. "You have shown our sport brings people together in our very fragile world. You have shown how sport builds bridges."

It was all an extraordinary bookend to an extraordinary Olympics that featured athletic excellence, surprises and unexpected lurches forward toward a new detente on the Korean Peninsula. Thrilled athletes marched into the arena around the world's flags, relaxed after showing their athletic best to themselves and to the world.

"We have been through a lot so that we could blaze a trail," said Kim Eun-jung, skip of the South Korean women's curling team, which captured global renown as the "Garlic Girls" - all from a garlic-producing Korean hometown. They made a good run for gold before finishing with runner-up silver.

That these games would be circumscribed by politics was a given from the outset because of regional rivalries. North Korea, South Korea, Japan and China are neighbors with deep, sometimes twisted histories that get along uneasily with each other in this particular geographic cul-de-sac.

But there was something more this time around. Hanging over the entire games was the saga - or opportunity, if you prefer - of a delicate diplomatic dance between the Koreas, North and South, riven by bloodshed and discord and an armed border for the better part of a century.

The games started with a last-minute flurry of agreements to bring North Koreans to South Korea to compete under one combined Koreas banner. Perish the thought, some said, but Moon's government stayed the course. By the opening ceremony, a march of North and South into the Olympic Stadium was watched by the world - and by dozens of North Korean cheerleaders applauding in calibrated synchronicity.

Also watching was an equally extraordinary, if motley, crew. Deployed in a VIP box together were Moon, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's envoy sister, Kim Yo Jong. The latter two, at loggerheads over North Korea's nuclear program, didn't speak, and the world watched the awkwardness.

What followed was a strong dose of athletic diplomacy: two weeks of global exposure for the Korean team, particularly the women's hockey squad, which trained for weeks with North and South side by side getting along, taking selfies and learning about each other.

On Sunday night, though K-pop megastars EXO claimed center stage, leaders rejoined athletes as a primary focus.

Kim, President Donald Trump's daughter and Moon sat in close proximity as the Olympics' end unfolded before them and the statement was released in Seoul. Also seated nearby was Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. forces Korea. Unlike Pence, Ivanka Trump was smiling as she turned in the North Koreans' direction. It was not clear what she was smiling at, but a White House official said it was not the North Koreans.

The developments Sunday both inside and outside the VIP box were particularly striking given that Kim Yong Chol, now vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, is suspected of masterminding a lethal 2010 military attack on the South.

Outside the stadium, North Korea was not welcomed as much.

More than 200 anti-Pyongyang protesters, waving South Korean and U.S. flags, banging drums and holding signs like "Killer Kim Yong Chol go to hell," rallied in streets near the park. They denounced the South Korean government's decision to allow the visit. There were no major clashes.

That wasn't all when it came to these odd games. Let's not forget Russia - or, we should say, "Olympic Athletes from Russia," the shame-laced moniker they inherited after a doping brouhaha from the 2014 Sochi Games doomed them to a non-flag-carrying Pyeongchang Games.

Two more Russian athletes tested positive in Pyeongchang in the past two weeks. So on Sunday morning, the IOC refused to reinstate the team in time for the closing but left the door open for near-term redemption from what one exasperated committee member called "this entire Russia drama."

Away from the politics, humanity's most extraordinary feats of winter athletic prowess unfolded, revealing the expected triumphs but also stars most unlikely - from favorites like Mikaela Shiffrin, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn to sudden surprise legends like Czech skier-snowboarder Ester Ledecka and the medal-grabbing "Garlic Girls," South Korea's hometown curling favorites.

Other Olympic trailblazers: Chloe Kim, American snowboarder extraordinaire. The U.S. women's hockey team and men's curlers, both of which claimed gold. And the Russian hockey team, with its nail-biting, overtime victory against Germany.

What's next for the games? Tokyo in Summer 2020, then Beijing - Summer host in 2008 - staging an encore, this time for a Winter Games. With the completion of the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, that Olympic trinity marks one-third of a noteworthy Olympic run by Asia.

For those keeping score at home: That means four of eight Olympic Games between 2008 and 2022 will have taken place on the Asian continent. Not bad for a region that hosted only four games in the 112 years of modern Olympic history before that - Tokyo in 1964, Sapporo in 1972, Seoul in 1988 and Nagano in 1998. Japan and China will, it's likely, be highly motivated to outdo South Korea (and each other).

Meantime, the Olympians departing Monday leave behind a Korean Peninsula full of possibility for peace, or at least less hostility.

The steps taken by North and South toward each other this month are formidable but fluid. People are cautiously optimistic: the governor of Gangwon, the border province where Pyeongchang is located, suggested Sunday that the 2021 Asian Games could be co-hosted by both Koreas.

It might not happen. But it could. That could be said about pretty much anything at an Olympic Games, inside the rings and out. Corporate and political and regimented though it may be, that's what makes it still the best game in town for an athletic thrill every other year - and yes, sometimes a political one, too.

Ted Anthony has been the director of Asia-Pacific news for The Associated Press since 2014. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @anthonyted. AP writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration escalated pressure on North Korea Friday by slapping sanctions on scores of companies and ships accused of illicit trading with the pariah nation. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. has now blacklisted virtually all ships being used by the North.

The administration billed it as the largest installment of North Korean economic restrictions to date as it intensifies its campaign of "maximum pressure" to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons. President Donald Trump went further, declaring in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that it was "the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before."

While that claim was questionable - previous U.S. measures have targeted bigger players in the North Korean economy, including Chinese and Russian business networks - it significantly tightens the noose on North Korean trading. Mnuchin told reporters that the U.S. has now imposed more than 450 sanctions against the North, about half of them in the last year - including "virtually all their ships that they're using at this moment in time."

Trump, who has vowed to use force if necessary to prevent North Korea acquiring a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the U.S. mainland, warned that if sanctions don't work, the U.S. would move to "phase two" in its pressure campaign against Pyongyang. He told a White House news conference that could be "very rough" and "very unfortunate for the world." He did not elaborate.

"It really is a rogue nation," Trump said in reference to North Korea. "If we can make a deal it will be a great thing. If we can't, something will have to happen."

The United Nations Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions on North Korea in the past year. The restrictions are intended to deprive it of revenue and resources for its nuclear and ballistic missile development. Washington is particularly concerned about exports of North Korean coal that are prohibited by the U.N. sanctions and ship-to-ship transfers of imported oil and petroleum products.

The Treasury Department said it was barring U.S. business transactions with nine international shipping companies from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Panama, and nine of their vessels. It also blacklisted 16 North shipping companies and 19 of their North Korean-flagged vessels.

Additionally, the department designated a Taiwanese citizen, Tsang Yung Yuan, and two companies he owns or controls. Tsang was said to have coordinated North Korean coal exports with a Russia-based North Korean broker, and attempted $1 million oil deal with a Russian company sanctioned for dealing with the North.

Mnuchin said the actions will significantly hinder North Korea's ability to conduct evasive maritime activities that facilitate illicit coal and fuel transports, and "erode its abilities to ship goods through international waters." He vowed the U.S. would "do everything" to stop the ship-to-ship transfers.

"We are putting companies and countries across the world on notice that this administration views compliance with U.S. and U.N. sanctions as a national security imperative. Those who trade with North Korea do so at their own peril," Mnuchin said.

The announcement comes as South Korea hosts the Winter Olympics, an occasion the two Koreas have used as an opportunity to ease tensions and restart talks. Although South Korea is a close U.S. ally, animosity between Washington and Pyongyang still runs high and there's no sign of the adversaries starting negotiations on the nuclear issue.

Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser, arrived in South Korea on Friday to attend the closing ceremony this weekend. At a dinner with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, she reaffirmed "our commitment to our maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized." Mnuchin said Ivanka Trump had spoken to Moon about the new sanctions before the announcement.

The U.S. government also issued Friday a global shipping advisory highlighting the sanctions risk to those who enable shipments of goods to and from North Korea. It alerted industries to North Korea's "deceptive shipping practices," which includes falsifying the identity of vessels and disabling transponders that track ships' movements.

The Treasury Department published photos of a U.S.-designated North Korean vessel, Kum Un San 3, which it said used false identifying information and conducted an illicit ship-to-ship transfer, possibly of oil, with a Panama-flagged vessel that was among the ships sanctioned Friday.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>South Korea’s presidential office said today that North Korea’s delegation to the Olympics agreed that there should be talks between the United States and North Korea.

Interested in North Korea? Add North Korea as an interest to stay up to date on the latest North Korea news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest

Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesperson for the Blue House, the presidential office, said that just like South Korea, the delegation from Pyongyang believed that U.S.-North Korean relations should improve.

The announcement followed talks today between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and members of North Korea's delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.

In response, the White House did not rule out direct talks, saying: "We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization. In the meantime, the United States and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are a dead end."

It said that any dialogue with the North must result in denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that a "maximum pressure campaign must continue until North Korea denuclearizes."

Michael Probst/AP Photo

A State Department spokesperson told ABC News the United States was "in close contact with the Republic of Korea about our unified response to North Korea," using the official name for South Korea. "As President Moon stated, 'The improvement of relations between North and South Korea cannot advance separately from resolving North Korea's nuclear program.'"

The South said the talks lasted an hour and concluded just a couple hours before the Olympics closing ceremony started in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The North Korean delegation included Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee, and Ri Son Kwon, the chairman of North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, according to the Blue House.

Moon was joined by the Blue House national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, and the director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, the president's office said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hoped relations between North Korea and South Korea would improve, and the North Korean delegation said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un felt the same way, according to the spokesperson.

The Blue House made the announcement as the closing ceremony was getting underway. The American and North Korean delegations sat seats away from each other during the ceremony but did not appear to interact.

ABC News asked the U.S. delegation for comment and did not immediately hear back.

ABC News' Clark Bentson contributed to this report from Pyeongchang, South Korea, and ABC News' Conor Finnegan and Meridith McGraw contributed reporting from Washington.</s>PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter toured the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday, the morning after telling South Korea’s president that she will use her visit to the Pyeongchang Games to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, who is one of her father’s close advisers, is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games. Under cloudy skies, she watched her first event Saturday morning – big-air snowboarding.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted to Trump how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet Friday night at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-Korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet. In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a ”maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said that Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.

In Pyeongchang on Saturday morning, Ivanka Trump watched snowboarders go on runs at the big-air jump. A smiling Trump, wearing a Team USA hat and red snowsuit, chatted with members of her delegation and South Korea first lady Kim Jung-suk. Also with her was IOC board member and 1998 hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero.

A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it’s unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony, sat awkwardly in a VIP box with the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un behind him. The two had no apparent contact.

Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

”North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” Moon said.

Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States.

While the games appear to have paved the way for possible rapprochement between the Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute.

For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony.

The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Errin Haines Whack is a national writer for The Associated Press. Youkykung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul.</s>North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said in a statement Sunday.

The South Korean leader said he’d met with the North Korean delegation that’s in Pyeongchang for the closing ceremony of the Winter Games, and told them that North Korea-US talks should happen “as soon as possible.”

Moon said the North Koreans indicated they were willing to talk with the US, and agreed that “the inter-Korean relationship and North Korea-US relationship should develop together.”

Developing story – more to come.</s>South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, poses with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong during a meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. Moon said the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and both parties should start a dialogue soon. Moon asked for China's support for U.S-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China will help facilitate such talks. (Bae Jae-man/Yonhap via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president said Monday that the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and that the two countries should start a dialogue soon.

President Moon Jae-in made the remarks in a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong one day after a senior North Korean official told Moon that his country is willing to open talks with the United States.

The officials were in South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday.

According to his office, Moon asked for China's support for U.S.-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China would help facilitate them. Moon also said that North Korea should show a commitment to denuclearization, something it has refused to do.

Earlier, the U.S. said the international community needs to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea until it gives up its nuclear weapons development.

"We will see if Pyongyang's message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization," the White House said in a statement.

Moon met Sunday with a North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong Chol, a former general whom South Korea has accused of being behind two attacks on the South that killed 50 people in 2010. Kim told Moon that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to improve ties with Washington and had "ample intentions of holding talks," according to the South Korean president's office.

The North Korean delegation met with Moon's national security chief on Monday. Moon's office said the two sides agreed that the Olympics had been a meaningful stepping stone toward restoring inter-Korean ties, and to continue to collaborate to seek a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean protesters burned a North Korean flag and used a knife to slash a portrait of Kim Jong Un near a hotel where the North Korean delegation was staying.</s>SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea’s president said Monday that the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and that the two countries should start a dialogue soon.

President Moon Jae-in made the remarks in a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong one day after a senior North Korean official told Moon that his country is willing to open talks with the United States.

The officials were in South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday.

According to his office, Moon asked for China’s support for U.S.-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China would help facilitate them. Moon also said that North Korea should show a commitment to denuclearization, something it has refused to do.

Earlier, the U.S. said the international community needs to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea until it gives up its nuclear weapons development.

“We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization,” the White House said in a statement.

Moon met Sunday with a North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong Chol, a former general whom South Korea has accused of being behind two attacks on the South that killed 50 people in 2010. Kim told Moon that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to improve ties with Washington and had “ample intentions of holding talks,” according to the South Korean president’s office.

The North Korean delegation met with Moon’s national security chief on Monday. Moon’s office said the two sides agreed that the Olympics had been a meaningful stepping stone toward restoring inter-Korean ties, and to continue to collaborate to seek a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean protesters burned a North Korean flag and used a knife to slash a portrait of Kim Jong Un near a hotel where the North Korean delegation was staying.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's president said Monday that the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and that the two countries should start a dialogue soon.

President Moon Jae-in made the remarks in a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong one day after a senior North Korean official told Moon that his country is willing to open talks with the United States.

The officials were in South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday.

According to his office, Moon asked for China's support for U.S.-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China would help facilitate them. Moon also said that North Korea should show a commitment to denuclearization, something it has refused to do.

Earlier, the U.S. said the international community needs to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea until it gives up its nuclear weapons development.

"We will see if Pyongyang's message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization," the White House said in a statement.

Moon met Sunday with a North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong Chol, a former general whom South Korea has accused of being behind two attacks on the South that killed 50 people in 2010. Kim told Moon that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to improve ties with Washington and had "ample intentions of holding talks," according to the South Korean president's office.

The North Korean delegation met with Moon's national security chief on Monday. Moon's office said the two sides agreed that the Olympics had been a meaningful stepping stone toward restoring inter-Korean ties, and to continue to collaborate to seek a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean protesters burned a North Korean flag and used a knife to slash a portrait of Kim Jong Un near a hotel where the North Korean delegation was staying.

Members of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party shout slogans during a rally against a visit of Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. The North Korean envoy making a rare visit to South Korea said Sunday that his country was willing to open talks with the United States, a rare step toward diplomacy between enemies after a year of North Korean missile and nuclear tests and direct threats of war from both Pyongyang and Washington. The signs read: " We opposed a visit of Kim Young Chol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean president Moon Jae-in states that North Korea is willing to enter talks with the United States in an effort to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.