The U.S. has expressed its opinion on President Lee Myung-bak’s proposal of a “grand bargain” to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

In a daily news briefing, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that the U.S. has been very clear that if North Korea takes irreversible steps to denuclearize, the U.S. and its partners will reciprocate in a comprehensive coordinated manner.

He also said he’s not sure if the grand bargain is a change of approach.

He said the final goal is complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that the U.S. is willing to look at other approaches if the North Koreans agree to uphold the commitments that they’ve already made.

Such remarks reflect Washington’s stance that it agrees in principle with the proposed grand bargain but it will for now focus on bringing Pyongyang back to the six-way talks and have it consent to denuclearization.