Obama says North Korea’s isolation means less leverage

While in Japan, he speaks of threat posed by N. Korea.

TOKYO — Former President Barack Obama said Sunday that negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program are difficult, partly because the country’s isolation minimizes possible leverage, such as trade and travel sanctions against Pyongyang.

“North Korea is an exam- ple of a country that is so far out of the international norms and so disconnected with the rest of the world,” Obama told a packed hall in Tokyo.

He stressed that the effort to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons remains difficult, but said countries working together, including China, South Korea and Japan, to pressure the North is better than nations work- ing alone.

He noted that past U.S. efforts on Iran’s nuclear weapons were more successful because there was more leverage, but that there’s lit- tle commerce and travel with North Korea to being with.

“That makes them less subject to these kinds of nego- tiations,” he said of North Korea.

Obama was speaking at an event sponsored by a Japanese nonprofit group during an Asia-Pacific trip that included earlier stops in Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Obama’s work after leaving office has been focused on nurturing young leaders.

Obama, we l comed by a st anding ovation, said that the U.S.-Japan alliance remains strong, and that the U.S. is committed to defending Japan.

“North Korea is a real threat,” he said.

“Our view has always been that we would prefer to resolve these issues peacefully,” he said, adding that otherwise “the cost in terms of human life would be significant.”

He acknowledged that progress on a nuclear-free world will likely take a long time as long as Russia and the U.S. can’t agree to reduce their stockpiles.

SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI / GETTY IMAGES Former President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pose for photographers in front of a restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district on Sunday.