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On Dec. 10, Daniel Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, called for a change of policy from North Korea, dismissing Pyongyang’s attempt to simultaneously pursue nuclear weapons and economic growth as being not a policy but a pipe dream.

Russel made the remarks on Wednesday, during a seminar on unification policy hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., and co-sponsored by the East Asia Institute in Seoul. In his speech, he discussed the conditions required for holding successful nuclear talks with North Korea.

While asserting that “a diplomatic path is open” to North Korea, Russel also said that there are reasonable conditions that North Korea must satisfy if the negotiations are to have a realistic chance of succeeding. These conditions, Russel elaborated, are “the commitments the North Koreans undertook in the September 2005 Joint Statement.”

“North Korea can never achieve the security and prosperity it desires while it pursues nuclear weapons,” the official added.

Referring to North Korea’s two-track policy of pursuing economic development alongside nuclear weapons, Russel said this “is not a policy, it’s a pipe dream.” “North Korea can’t have its cake and eat it, too,” he said.

“Our strategy raises the cost of continued defiance and ultimately leaves the DPRK no viable alternative but to honor its commitments and come into compliance with [. . .] its obligation to irreversibly and verifiably denuclearize,” he said.

Considering that the remarks came amid speculation that the US might alter its policy toward North Korea, they appear to have been aimed at emphasizing that the US is not budging from its current position on North Korea.

Russel also said that improving relations between South Korea and Japan is a top priority for the US in 2015.

“A major priority for the US is for South Korea and Japan to forge an open, cordial, and cooperative relationship. The global economy is far too fragile, the international regional security environment is far too troubling, and there are far too many global issues that we have to address together to allow Korea-Japan relations to deteriorate further,” Russel said.

These comments indicate that the US government believes it can no longer afford to ignore worsening relations between South Korea and Japan, which are interfering with American foreign policy. The implication is that the US could take a more assertive role in a push to improve the relationship between the two countries.

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

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