Barack Obama says ‘disconnected’ North Korea’s isolation means less leverage in denuclearisation talks
In Tokyo, he said countries working together, including China, South Korea and Japan, to pressure the reclusive nation is better than working alone
Former President Barack Obama said Sunday that negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear weapons programme are difficult, partly because the country’s isolation minimises possible leverage, such as trade and travel sanctions against Pyongyang.
“North Korea is an example of a country that is so far out of the international norms and so disconnected with the rest of the world,” Obama told a packed hall in Tokyo.
He noted that past US efforts on Iran’s nuclear weapons were more successful because there was more leverage, but that there’s little commerce and travel with North Korea to being with.
“That makes them less subject to these kinds of negotiations,” he said of North Korea.