Clinton offers incentive to N. Korea for denuclearization

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to tell North Korea that it can avoid “unrelenting” sanctions and win normalized relations with the U.S. by completely scrapping its nuclear program.

Officials said Clinton intends to announce today that if North Korea takes irreversible steps to denuclearize, then the United States and its negotiating partners would be willing to reciprocate in a “comprehensive and coordinated fashion.”

“Full normalization of relations, a permanent peace regime, and significant energy and economic assistance are all possible in the context of full and verifiable denuclearization,” Clinton says in excerpts of prepared remarks released late Wednesday by her staff.

“In the meantime, we will undertake the necessary defensive measures to protect our interests and our allies. North Korea’s ongoing threatening behavior does not inspire trust, nor does it permit us to sit idly by,” she says.

The Obama administration approach outlined by Clinton combines the lure of full normal relations with the U.S. and its allies with the threat of stiff international sanctions if North Korea continues with its nuclear buildup.

After consulting at this seaside Thai resort Wednesday with counterparts from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea on a strategy for enforcing the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea, Clinton said that Pyongyang could avoid isolation by ending its nuclear weapons program.

If not, she warned during a news conference, North Korea faces “the unrelenting pressure” of expanded international sanctions.