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White House: Policy toward DPRK unchanged

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-07 03:53

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama's spokesman said on Thursday that US policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was unchanged in the wake of former President Bill Clinton's trip to Pyongyang.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters it is up to the DPRK to takes steps to improve its relationship with the United States.

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"They have the ability and the power to do that," he said.

He said Washington hoped that the DPRK will implement agreements they have entered into in the past, "while at the same time we will continue to take the steps necessary to enforce (UN) Security Council resolutions to ensure weapons of mass destruction are not spread by the DPRK."

Clinton, husband of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, secured the release of two American journalists from the DPRK this week after meeting with the country's top leader, Kim Jong-il.