The United States says that if North Korea is serious about nuclear negotiations, it must demonstrate it with concrete actions.

In a board of governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA Glyn Davies urged Pyongyang to demonstrate with concrete actions that it's willing to take irreversible steps toward its agreed commitments and U.N. Security Council obligations to denuclearize and to return at an early date to the Nonproliferation Treaty and IAEA safeguards.

He urged the North to cease provocative behavior, halt its threats and belligerence toward its neighbors and take irreversible steps to fulfill its denuclearization commitments under the 2005 Joint Statement.

He said that if North Korea chooses that path, sanctions will be lifted, energy and other economic assistance will be provided, relations with the U.S. will be normalized, and the current armistice on the Korean Peninsula will be replaced by a permanent peace agreement.