Clinton: No 'nuclear-armed North Korea'

The United States will not have "normal, sanctions-free relations with a nuclear-armed North Korea," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed Wednesday.

Although Clinton also signaled the United States was still willing to broker a compromise with leaders in Pyongyang, she ultimately stressed North Korea's nuclear weapons program woud have to be dismantled.

"Current sanctions will not be relaxed until Pyongyang takes verifiable, irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization," Clinton said Wednesday.

"We are prepared to meet bilaterally with North Korea. But North Korea's return to the negotiating table is not enough," she added.

Clinton's speech to the U.S. Institute of Peace this afternoon is just the latest front in the Obama administration's larger carrots-and-sticks campaign to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Already, the administration's strategy has produced mixed results. While the White House was able to score key concessions from Iran during bilateral talks earlier this month -- a process aided on Wednesday by the announcement Iran might soon import its nuclear fuel -- U.S. officials have not fared as well in North Korea. There, President Kim Jong Il has repeatedly refused to return to six-party negotiations, and leaders in Pyongyang have instead ramped up their criticism of Washington.