U.S., S. Korean Presidents open for N. Korea nuclear deal talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday, October 16, they were open to negotiations with North Korea on sanctions but Pyongyang needed to show it was serious about abandoning its nuclear weapons program, Reuters reports.

Asked if he saw the possibility of a deal with North Korea like that reached with Iran, Obama told a joint news conference after talks with Park in Washington that he saw no indication that North Korea 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 North Koreans 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 North Korean nuclear issue and said she had agreed with Obama on the need to strengthen diplomatic efforts.

However, she said in language certain to infuriate North Korea: "There is a saying: You can take a horse to the trough, but you can’t make it drink water."