As sweeping reform continues to take hold in Myanmar, North Korea should take a page from its former ally’s transition book and brighten its own future without a regime change, a top U.S. official said Wednesday.

Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, lauded the Southeast Asian nation’s decision that resulted in a “pouring-in” of development assistance from around the world and high-level exchanges officials including a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama.

“The transformation in the economy, the transformation in the lives of Burmese people, the opportunities that have opened and the scope of international cooperation have not come at the cost of a revolution,” he said in a news conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington.

“A change in North Korea does not mean to be regime change, as the example of Burma shows.”

His remarks were apparently aimed at defusing Pyongyang’s ongoing criticism of Washington since Obama said in a media interview last week that “a regime like this” will collapse over time on the back of deepening isolation and information penetration.

Despite a recent failure to arrange a meeting, Russel said Washington remained open for dialogue with Pyongyang but urged its commitment to denuclearization enshrined in past agreements.

Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, had expressed his intent to meet North Korean officials during his Asia tour last week, but his efforts did not materialize due apparently to gaps over the conditions.

The communist country has since doled out a series of verbal attacks, repeatedly vowing to “no longer sit with rabid dogs barking about” toppling its regime.

Russel downplayed the claim, saying Pyongyang’s constant flip-flops made it difficult to take any single pronouncement as a “last word.”

“We are open to dialogue. … What we want, however, are negotiations to implement the agreements reached to fulfill the mandate of the U.N. Security Council resolutions to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

“We are always alert to and seeking indicators of seriousness of purpose on North Korea’s part that it is prepared to negotiate, that it’s prepared to come to the negotiating table, ready to take the concrete steps, take the reversible steps that will be necessary to freeze, roll back and eliminate ultimately the nuclear program and missile program.”

At a separate seminar in Washington, Kim reiterated that while working to reinforce sanctions in the wake of Pyongyang’s purported hack on Sony Pictures, he would continue to explore opportunities for talks if Pyongyang wants “sincere” dialogue on denuclearization.

Seoul and Washington are intensifying policy coordination, with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se scheduled for talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich on Saturday.

While U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit here next week, Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator and special representative for Korean Peninsular peace and security affairs at the Foreign Ministry, met with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing on Wednesday. 

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)