No Indication of Policy Changes from North Korea with Prisoner Release

Published at 10:21 am, November 10, 2014

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(BEIJING) — President Obama Monday said there was no indication that the release of two American prisoners from North Korea signaled a broader change in relations, noting that North Korea’s nuclear program did not come up in negotiations.

“We had an indication that there was a possibility of a release of these two hostages or prisoners, and we pursued it,” the president told reporters. “We did not touch on some of the broader issues that have been the source of primary concern when it comes to North Korea; in particular, it’s development of a nuclear capacity.”

“There were not high level policy discussions between Jim Clapper and the North Koreans, but we have been consistent in saying that when and if North Korea becomes serious about denuclearization on the peninsula and is prepared to have a conversation on that topic, then the U.S. is going to be very open to trying to arrive at a solution that over the long term could lead to great prosperity and security for North Korea. Until that time, there is going to be a core problem between us,” he added.

Speaking to reporters following a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Obama said he was “incredibly thankful” to Clapper and “couldn’t be happier for the families” of the two released Americans.

“We continue though to have a broader fundamental conflict with the North Koreans and it’s going to take, I think, in addition to small gestures, like the ones that we saw with the release of these individuals, a broader understanding on the part of the North Koreans that all of the countries in the region, including China, including the Republic of Korea, including Japan, consider this to be their number one security priority, making sure that we don’t have a nuclearized Korean peninsula. Up until this point at least we have not seen serious engagement on the part of Pyongyang to deal with that problem.”

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