U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to use his attendance at the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month to try to counter what he sees as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's effort to "hijack" the games with a propaganda campaign, a White House official said Tuesday.

Pence will be present at the games not just for ceremonial purposes but to try to offset the "charade" he expects the North Koreans to put on when they send a team and also march in the opening ceremony with their South Korean counterparts, according to the official traveling with the vice president and speaking on condition of anonymity.

"He has grave concerns that Kim will hijack the messaging around the Olympics," the official told reporters aboard Pence's plane as he returned to the United States from a trip to the Middle East. "The North Koreans have been master manipulators in the past. It's a murderous state."