SAN JOSE, Calif. — Top officials with the United States figure skating association said on Wednesday that they would welcome North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics next month in South Korea, setting up a potential conflict with the White House.
“We’re hoping they’re there,” David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating, said of North Korea, which has qualified a pairs skating team for the Games and whose leader, Kim Jong-un, has signaled interest in participating. “It would be the safest place in the world.”
The Trump administration has been more equivocal. Asked at a news briefing on Tuesday whether the United States supported participation by North Korean athletes in the 2018 Olympics, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said, “We haven’t made a final determination on that front.