Korea Watch—Pence on Wednesday also spoke about his recent trip to South Korea, including his encounter with Kim Yo-Jung, sister of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, at the Winter Olympics there.

“I didn’t avoid the dictator’s sister, but I did ignore her,” Pence said. “I didn’t believe it was proper for the U.S.A. to give her any attention in that forum.”

Pence repeated his denunciations of North Korea, calling it “the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet,” and said that while America was always open to conversations, they would open no diplomatic inroads until the Kim regime completely abandons its missile programs.

“The United States has viable military options to deal with the treat of nuclear and ballistic missiles from North Korea,” Pence said. “We want to exhaust every opportunity to make sure North Korea understands our intentions and the seriousness of the U.S.A. and our allies.”

Things That Makes You Go Hmmmm . . . —Via NBC News: “More than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president’s daughter, son-in-law and his top legal counsel . . .”

On the President’s Schedule—Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, will meet with President Trump in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon.

Must-Read of the Day—From Vanity Fair: “Reince Priebus Opens Up About His Six Months Of Magical Thinking”

Immigration Watch—My colleague Andrew Egger reports President Trump has backed the immigration proposal put forth by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley:

President Trump on Wednesday threw his weight behind Sen. Chuck Grassley’s immigration plan, urging the Senate to pass the “responsible and commonsense” proposal based on the White House’s immigration priorities and threatening to veto proposals that contain further Democratic concessions.

“The Grassley bill accomplishes the four pillars of the White House framework: a lasting solution on DACA, ending chain migration, cancelling the visa lottery, and securing the border through building the wall and closing legal loopholes,” Trump said in a statement. “The overwhelming majority of American voters support a plan that fulfills the framework’s four pillars, which move us towards the safe, modern, and lawful immigration system our people deserve.”

The president also threatened to veto any bill that fails to satisfy those criteria, saying he would oppose “any short-term “Band-Aid” approach. On Tuesday, some moderate lawmakers were weighing a deal that would build a border wall and provide a pathway to citizenship for former DACA recipients, but not end extended family sponsorships or the visa lottery.

One More Thing—The New York Times reports the so-called Common Sense Coalition of senators from both parties has reached a narrow deal on immigration that does not address some of the legal immigration proposals Trump has called for. It’s unclear, but very possible, the White House could issue a veto threat on the proposal, which has 8 Republican co-sponsors.