Obama: North Korea's isolation means less leverage in talks
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TOKYO - Former President Barack Obama said Sunday that negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program are difficult, partly because the country's isolation minimizes possible leverage, such as trade and travel sanctions against Pyongyang.
"North Korea is an example of a country that is so far out of the international norms and so disconnected with the rest of the world," Obama told a packed hall in Tokyo Sunday.
He stressed the effort to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons remains difficult, but countries working together, including China as well as South Korea and Japan, to combine pressure on North Korea will be better than nations working alone.
He noted that past US efforts on Iran's nuclear weapons were more successful because there was more leverage, but there's little commerce and travel with North Korea to being with.
"That makes them less subject to these kinds of negotiations," he said of North Korea.
