He was invited by US vice president Mike Pence, who has started a six-day tour through Asia, anchored by a stop at the Olympics.
It's expected Mr Pence will focus less on sports than the host country's neighbour to the North.
According to White House officials, Mr Pence will hold symbolic events of his own to highlight the North's human rights abuses and nuclear ambitions.
Last year US President Donald Trump challenged North Korea's official line concerning the death of Otto Warmbier.
The 22-year-old spent more than a year in detention after being sentenced for 15 years behind bars for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel to take to his church.
Following Otto Warmbier's death in September 2017, Mr Trump tweeted that the student was "tortured beyond belief" during his time in detention.
Ahead of the Olympics visit with the student's father, Fred Warmbier, Mr Pence tweeted on Monday: "He & his wife remind the world of the atrocities happening in N Korea. As POTUS made clear at the #SOTU, we pledge to honor Otto's memory w/ American resolve"
Headed to Japan & S Korea to strengthen the relationship between the U.S & allies, reiterate our commitment to continue to isolate N Korea & ensure N Korea doesn't use the Olympics to paper over the truth about their regime which oppresses its own people & threatens other nations pic.twitter.com/sTOjD4jAwt
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 6, 2018
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has not ruled out the possibility of a US-North Korea meeting at the Olympics.
The games have provided a diplomatic opening between the rival Koreas, although little let-up in the bitterness between Washington and Pyongyang.
"I think we'll just see. We'll have to see what happens," Mr Tillerson told a news conference in Peru. North Korea is sending its nominal head of state, Kim Jong Nam- the highest-level visitor to the south from the North in recent memory.
The trip comes after Mr Trump hosted a group of North Korean defectors in the Oval Office on Friday, including Ji Seong-ho, whom the president referenced in his State of the Union address last week.
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