NEW YORK (CNN) -- North Korea's nuclear program is "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Ready to move forward with six-party talks on North Korea.
But, Clinton said in a 45-minute address to the New York-based Asia Society, the Obama administration is prepared to seek a permanent, stable peace with Pyongyang as long as its government pursues disarmament and does not engage in aggression against neighboring South.
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"If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people," she said.
The United States wants to move forward with the six-party talks, working with China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and North Korea to address North Korea's nuclear program, she said. However, keeping in line with the Obama administration's approach of "engaging" its enemies, Clinton said the United States would consider bilateral contacts with Pyongyang.
Despite the olive branch, Clinton warned Pyongyang "to avoid any provocative action or unhelpful rhetoric toward South Korea."
Tension between Pyongyang and its neighbor South Korea has increased in recent weeks, with North Korea announcing it would scrap peace agreements with the South, warning of a war on the Korean peninsula and threatening to test a missile capable of hitting the western United States
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Ready to move forward with six-party talks on North Korea.
But, Clinton said in a 45-minute address to the New York-based Asia Society, the Obama administration is prepared to seek a permanent, stable peace with Pyongyang as long as its government pursues disarmament and does not engage in aggression against neighboring South.
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"If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people," she said.
The United States wants to move forward with the six-party talks, working with China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and North Korea to address North Korea's nuclear program, she said. However, keeping in line with the Obama administration's approach of "engaging" its enemies, Clinton said the United States would consider bilateral contacts with Pyongyang.
Despite the olive branch, Clinton warned Pyongyang "to avoid any provocative action or unhelpful rhetoric toward South Korea."
Tension between Pyongyang and its neighbor South Korea has increased in recent weeks, with North Korea announcing it would scrap peace agreements with the South, warning of a war on the Korean peninsula and threatening to test a missile capable of hitting the western United States
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