U.S. SAYS IT WILL SEEK A PRACTICAL NOKOR POLICY

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will pursue a "practical" approach toward ridding Pyongyang of its nuclear weapons and will not focus on striking a grand bargain, the White House said Friday upon completion of a months-long policy review on North Korea.

"Our goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Philadelphia while noting the administration has a "clear understanding" that the efforts of past administrations have not achieved the objective, Kyodo News reported.

"Our policy calls for a calibrated, practical approach that is open to and will explore more diplomacy with the DPRK, and to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies, and deployed forces," she added. DPRK is the acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

While details remain unclear, Psaki suggested that the Biden administration wishes to avoid following in the footsteps of recent U.S. administrations, saying its policy will "not focus on achieving a grand bargain, neither will it rely on strategic patience."

Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, who in 2018 became the first sitting U.S. leader to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, had pushed for a "big deal" under which all sanctions would be lifted if North Korea gave up all of its nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

But North Korea had called for an incremental, action-for-action process in which Pyongyang would secure concessions such as sanctions relief for each move it made toward denuclearization.

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