The United States' special envoy for North Korea said there would be no major changes in U.S. policy toward Pyongyang no matter who wins the November presidential election, a report said Saturday.
Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said in a recent forum at Stanford University that since the Reagan administration, the U.S. government has pursued a "dual approach" of using both dialogue and pressure in dealing with North Korea, regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican was in office, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported.
Davies said no matter what the result of the Nov. 6 election would be, the U.S. policy toward Pyongyang is "unlikely to shift dramatically," the report said.
President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney are currently locked in a neck-and-neck race.
Davies visited South Korea on Oct. 18 for a three-day stay as part of his Northeast Asia tour for routine consultations on the communist country with allies.
During his visit, Davies called on Pyongyang to "follow through their obligations and commitments" as outlined in an aid-for-denuclearization agreement that was reached in 2005 during a six-party meeting on the North's nuclear programs.
Davies said that the U.S. message to young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is clear, saying that North Korea should make a strategic resolution toward denuclearization, according to RFA.
Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, has been consolidating his power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December.
Some media reports have raised speculation about progress in the North's light-water reactor project that experts say may help expand Pyongyang's nuclear weapon-building capacity. (Yonhap News)
