U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday the six-country talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program were “essential” to multilateral diplomatic approaches to regional issues. Clinton said the talks, which include the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia, have been helpful for all participants. “With respect to North Korea, the six-party talks are essential. They have not only been a useful forum for the participants who deal with the challenge of North Korea's nuclear program but the other issues that are part of the North Korean agenda,” Clinton told reporters at the State Department. “It is important that I underscore what we see as the significance of the six-party talks. They have been useful not only [regarding] North Korea but among the participating nations in related matters in the region,” Clinton said. According to Clinton, the Obama administration is undertaking a review of the U.S. approach to North Korea. “We are going to pursue steps that we think are effective,” she said. Under the six-country process, North Korea in 2005 agreed to abandon all its nuclear programs. But Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in 2006 and has been slow to carry out agreements on disabling its plutonium program. In 2007, Pyongyang signed a six-country disarmament pact which calls for the abandonment of its nuclear weapons in return for aid, normalized relations with the United States and Japan, and a formal peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula.
