President Obama on Tuesday left the door open to negotiations with North Korea after it conducted yet another illicit missile launch on Monday.
“But that if it is willing to recognize its international obligations and the importance of denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula, the opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there,” Obama offered after condemning North Korea while standing with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
“And we do not have any interest in an offensive approach to North Korea,” he continued. “We want peace and security for all peoples, but their current behavior has not been ones that are conducive to the kinds of dialogue and diplomacy that both [South Korea] and the United States would prefer,” he said as Park stood next to him.
Both leaders are in Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
“These launches are provocative; they’re a violation of North Korea’s obligations internationally,” Obama said. “North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation.”
Park said Pyongyang’s violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions are “fundamentally threatening the security of both the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. I would like to make it clear that Korea and the U.S. will respond resolutely to any provocations by North Korea by utilizing all means.”
Obama also discussed North Korea’s thumbing of international sanctions — Monday’s test came as China hosted the G-20 economic summit — with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Pyongyang’s aggression will be a subject during the ASEAN meetings, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said.
“We want to make sure that we’re just cutting off all the lifelines that North Korea tries to grab onto in terms of evading sanctions and accessing currency so that they pay the full cost for their actions,” Rhodes said Tuesday morning.
“We have to be very vigilant in sanctions enforcement.”
