The White House on Tuesday downplayed the diplomatic import of North Korea's hosting of a New York Philharmonic concert, saying the Stalinist regime must still come clean on its nuclear activities.
"The president thinks that, at the end of the day, this is a concert," spokeswoman Dana Perino said after the oldest US symphony orchestra played in Pyongyang.
"And it's not going to change — it's not necessarily going to change — the behavior of a regime that has not been as forthcoming as we need them to be on their nuclear activities," she said.
A landmark six-nation deal reached in February last year offered the North a million tons of fuel oil, normalized ties with the United States and Japan and a formal peace treaty, if it scrapped all nuclear programs and material.
In the current phase, the North agreed to disable its atomic plants and fully declare all nuclear programs by the end of last year. But it missed the deadline amid a dispute with the United States over the declaration.
"We need them to move faster on denuclearization, we need a full and accurate report from them and we also need a report on all their proliferation activities," said Perino.
"From there it is possible that additional cultural exchanges like the New York Philharmonic will be available but you can't help but think about how the people in North Korea are not going to be able to hear this concert," she said.
"What is the condition for future engagement with North Korea is for them to meet their six-party obligations," said Perino.
"(If) they don't meet their six party obligations, all sorts of things won't happen like increased communication, increased economic development, increased trade, increased cultural exchanges, all of the things that many other countries in the world enjoy because they are not suffocating their own people."
