WASHINGTON—The United States is ready to negotiate with longtime adversary North Korea as it has with Iran, but Pyongyang has to be serious about abandoning nuclear weapons, President Barack Obama said Friday.
Obama was speaking after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a close ally, who echoed the U.S. leader’s view.
The North has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006 and is developing a mobile ballistic missile that could potentially hit the United States.
Obama said Iran had been prepared to have a “serious conversation” about the possibility of giving up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. He said there’s no indication of that in North Korea’s case.
International aid-for-disarmament talks with the North stalled seven years ago.
“At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ it’s fair to say we'll be right there at the table,” Obama told a joint news conference.
However, he added that North Korea’s violation of past agreements called into question its willingness to allow the kind of “rigorous” verification regimes put in place with Iran.
Park’s visit follows heightened tensions this summer at the heavily militarized border between the two Koreas, and speculation that North Korea could be planning another nuclear test explosion or a rocket launch into space using ballistic missile technology.
In a joint statement issued after Friday’s meeting, the United States and South Korea said that if North Korea takes such a step, “it will face consequences, including seeking further significant measures by the U.N. Security Council.” The statement also said they would never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.
