US says it is ready for ‘authentic, credible’ discussions with N. Korea following Iran deal

The U.S. says that its involvement with the Iranian nuclear deal sets an important precedence to open up negotiations with North Korea a State Department representative said on Tuesday.

“We are prepared for negotiations, provided that they are authentic and credible, get at the entirety of the North’s nuclear program, and result in concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization,” spokesman John Kirby told reporters according to Yonhap News Agency. “Pyongyang’s attempts to engage in dialogue while keeping critical elements of its weapons program running are unacceptable.”

In the Iranian deal, the U.S., U.K., France, China, Russia and Germany all agreed to lift certain economic sanctions in exchange for explicit efforts towards denuclearization.

How the U.S. hopes to barter for the denuclearization of North Korea remains unclear, but Kirby has made it clear the the end goal is clear.

“Denuclearization remains our top priority. We remain in close contact with the other Five-Party partners on our shared goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner,” he said.

North Korea has recently been ramping up efforts to develop nuclear weapons and rockets. It has publicly shared parts of its progress through statements and photos via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) — the most recent being claims that the country can launch rockets capable of holding miniaturized nuclear warheads from submarines.