The Obama administration said Wednesday it wanted to make Asia more stable and would not negotiate with North Korea while it keeps critical elements of its nuclear weapons program running.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice also warned Pyongyang could face tougher sanctions if it acts provocatively.
She made the comments Wednesday in an Asia policy speech where she underscored U.S. commitment to the region and announced President Barack Obama would visit in April.
Speaking at Georgetown University in Washington, Rice stressed the importance of cooperating with China, including on confronting the threat posed by North Korea, which relies heavily on its economic ties with China.
North Korea conducted an atomic test in February and this summer reportedly restarted a plutonium reactor. But with prodding from Beijing, the North has since said it wants to resume, without preconditions, the international aid-for-disarmament negotiations it pulled out of five years ago.
Rice said rolling back the threat posed by North Korea is a priority, and the U.S. is open to credible negotiations that get at the entirety of the North’s nuclear program. But she added that Pyongyang engaging in dialogue while keeping critical elements of the program running is unacceptable.
“We will continue to join with international partners, especially China, to increase pressure on North Korea to denuclearize,” Rice said, warning that the U.S. would “maintain and expand, as necessary,” bilateral and multilateral sanctions.
“There will continue to be significant costs to future provocations,” she said.
Rice, formerly Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, pointed out North Korea’s track record of engaging in dialogue while pursuing its nuclear and missile programs.
“North Korea knows exactly what it needs to do to demonstrate that it’s serious,” she said with respect to the preconditions for the resumption of six-way talks.
She did not elaborate, but multiple sources say Washington wants Pyongyang to stop enriching uranium, impose a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and allow the return of international inspectors to its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.
Only after North Korea takes such initial steps can “authentic and credible” negotiations with Pyongyang take place for concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization, said Rice.
“They will not succeed. ... We will maintain and expand as necessary both national and multilateral sanctions against North Korea,” she said. Rice reaffirmed that Washington is prepared to restart talks as long as Pyongyang is serious about denuclearization.
In case of further provocations, however, she said North Korea will continue to pay significant costs.
“So Pyongyang has a choice” between greater isolation and development based on global integration, she stressed.
On ties with South Korea, she said Seoul and Washington are enhancing the alliance’s military capabilities to ensure that their combined forces can deter and fully answer any North Korean provocations.
Rice said President Barack Obama will visit Asia in April to push closer ties after his earlier cancellation of a trip raised questions about U.S. staying power.
Rice acknowledged disappointment after the president called off a trip in October to negotiate with Republican lawmakers who shut down the US government to stop his health care reforms.
“Our friends in Asia deserve and will continue to get our highest-level attention,” she said.
“No matter how many hotspots emerge elsewhere, we will continue to deepen our enduring commitment to this critical region,” Rice said.
Rice did not specify Obama’s itinerary. In October, he had been due to attend regional summits to Indonesia and Brunei, and also visit Malaysia and the Philippines.
(From news reports)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
