The United States on Thursday reassured its key Asian allies Japan and South Korea that its policy seeking North Korea's nuclear disarmament remains unchanged, after its intelligence chief called it a "lost cause".
Washington has always maintained it cannot accept North Korea as a nuclear state and, under President Barack Obama, has made any talks with Pyongyang conditional on the country first making some tangible commitment towards denuclearisation.
But in remarks to a think-tank earlier this week, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper suggested that such a policy was based on wishful thinking, saying: "The notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearise is probably a lost cause."
US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken took issue with that view in Tokyo after a trilateral meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
"Our policy has not changed," he told reporters at a joint news conference.
"We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state, we will not accept North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons. Period."
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