Obama, Park say DPRK must show willing to get nuclear deal
US President Barack Obama and the Republic of Korea's President Park Geun-hye said on October 16 they were open to negotiations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on sanctions but Pyongyang needed to show it was serious about abandoning its nuclear weapons program.
Asked if he saw the possibility of a deal with the DPRK like that reached with Iran, Obama told a joint news conference after talks with Park in Washington that he saw no indication that the DPRK envisioned a future without nuclear weapons.
"At the point where Pyongyang says we are interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization, I think it’s fair to say that we’ll be right there at the table," he said.
"We haven’t even gotten to that point yet, because there has been no indication on the part of the DPRK as there was with the Iranians that they could foresee a future in which they did not possess or were not pursuing nuclear weapons."
Park said it was important to have concerted international efforts towards a solution to the DPRK nuclear issue and said she had agreed with Obama on the need to strengthen diplomatic efforts.
DPRK said in June its nuclear weapons are an "essential deterrence" and it has no interest in a deal like that reached with Iran.
Park said she would seek to strengthen cooperation on the DPRK issue at a three-way summit with China and Japan that she will host in Seoul early next month.