Not standing does not mean peace is out of the question. The only lacking peace is from the North Korean government. There is no valid excuse for what the Kim regime does. Maybe only Pence can inspire apologetics on behalf of North Korea. Not sure what that says.

If American athletes who kneel when the Anthem plays were to stand for the North Koreans, I likewise wouldn’t call that hypocrisy. These are obviously different situations. If you want to hate Pence and think he’s totally misguided in his perception of the Anthem protests, fine.

Here, Pence is refusing to stand in mock respect of a horrible country. The idea that if only we are solicitous toward the country by standing at the Olympics they will stop building nuclear weapons and brutalizing its people is absurd. The idea is to force North Korea to enter real diplomatic negotiations, something that appears impossible as the government is constituted and the measures it takes to control its population.