Obama wishes to open talks with North Korea
October 18, 2015
In a joint press conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, US President Barack Obama said North Korea would be welcomed to round table talks if it’s ready to give up its nuclear weapons. “As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we have had troubled histories,” President Obama said, while clarifying that the conditions required of North Korea for such an engagement have not been met or even attempted. President Park also stressed the need to “fully utilize” China’s role in bringing about such a proposal during the press conference.
Following the news that Admiral Bill Gortney, chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), found North Korea to “have the capability to reach the homeland with a nuclear weapon from a rocket,” the US with South Korea at its side, appears more open to eventual talks with North Korea than ever before. North Korea, believed to have enough fissile material for 10 to 16 nuclear bombs, has conducted three nuclear tests in the last decade and has a program to develop mobile ballistic missiles.