A top U.S. official says North Korea could be the beneficiary of incentives if it abandons its nuclear ambitions.

In a Senate defense committee hearing on Thursday in Washington, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher said the Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) report is aimed at providing more incentive to nonnuclear nations not to seek or acquire nuclear weapons.

She said the NPR does not alter current U.S. policy on the use of nuclear weapons toward nuclear armed states or nonnuclear weapon states not in compliance with the NPT and their nuclear nonproliferation obligations, such as North Korea and Iran.

She said that nonnuclear states who are members of the NPT have no reason to fear a nuclear attack from the U.S.

She said that the NPR narrows the consideration of U.S. use of nuclear weapons to only the most extreme situations to protect the safety of the U.S. and its allies.