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US to keep sanctions against DPRK till denuclearization

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-22 02:43

WASHINGTON: The United States will not have normal ties with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) or relax its sanctions against the country until Pyongyang abandons nuclear arms, Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton said here on Wednesday.

"Current sanctions will not be relaxed until Pyongyang takes verifiable, irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization," Clinton said in a policy address to the United States Institutes of Peace.

The DPRK conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25. It also boycotted the six-party talks on its nuclear program since April.

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The six-party talks, involving the DPRK, the United States, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia, began in 2003.

The United States has been urging the DPRK to give up nuclear arms for years. Although it agrees to be open to have dialogue with Pyongyang, the Obama administration insists that Pyongyang must agree to return to the six-party talks.

Any of US bilateral contacts with the DPRK should lead to the resumption of six-party nuclear disarmament talks, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.