Secretary Hillary Clinton gave the following interview in Istanbul, Turkey

Q. If you stand back and look at this, you have right now—you talked about those broken promises, the broken promises—if you stand back and look at it, there's kind of a pattern emerging. And you could say Syria, broken promises by President Assad, you would assert. You have broken promises, you also would assert, from Iran on the nuclear program. And you have North Korea, which also has broken promises.

So in this pattern, what explains that pattern? It's similar to what I was asking first off, which is: Is there something that this Administration is doing, which is kind of standing back, not being as aggressive as some people might want you to be, that is emboldening them, allowing them to say we'll just play out the clock?

Secretary Clinton. Well, I don't think so. I think if you look at what this Administration did, we put together an international coalition—a consensus, really, against both Iran and North Korea that had not existed before with UN Security Council resolutions, very tough sanctions enforcements. But you're dealing with two regimes that are very difficult to reign in because they have no regard for even their own promises and obligations. With North Korea, that goes back decades. It's been a constant challenge, and it's been a process of really trying to prevent them from going too far with their provocative actions that could cause another war in the Korean Peninsula, which—you go to the memorial in Washington and you know what that cost the United States and our allies.

With Iran, we are very carefully building on and then acting on the pressure that we have put in place. We will begin to know, with the resumption of the P-5+1 talks, whether or not there is a deal to be had here. This is something that has to be explored. I think one of the reasons that the Iranians are even coming back to talk is because of the sanctions. But as President Obama has said, all options are on the table. Our policy is not containment with Iran. It is prevention of their getting a nuclear weapon.

Ambassador Susan Rice gave the following remarks at the UN Security Council

Q. Ambassador, what do you foresee to be the reaction of the Security Council in case North Korea launches a missile? And did you discuss this with other members of the Security Council?

Ambassador Rice. First of all, we obviously have discussed it informally with other members of the Security Council, both in New York and Seoul and other capitals over the previous weeks. It is clear that any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology, which is what this is, would be a blatant violation of Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874. We think that as a consequence of that, should it occur, the Council will need to convene and to respond credibly. There is no disagreement among members of the Council that this is a provocative act and an act that the North Koreans should refrain from undertaking. And if they don't, it would be them that are increasingly isolated—they that will lose, as they have in the past, when they have taken steps that are ill-conceived, provocative, and in violation of their international obligations.

Thank you.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba gave the following remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. We covered a number of regional and global issues, but spent most of our time on North Korea's planned missile launch. Our two governments will continue to closely coordinate, consult, and cooperate as this situation develops. We share a strong interest in stability on the Korean peninsula, and we believe that strength and security will not come from more provocations but from North Korea living up to its commitments and obligations.

So I thank the foreign minister for his visit, and I look forward to working with him over the next two days during the G-8 foreign ministers meetings.

Foreign Minister Gemba. Then allow me to say a few words at the outset. I believe there have been main themes, and that is, number one, preparation for the upcoming visit by the prime minister. And the other matter was concerning North Korea.

First, with respect to North Korea, launch of a missile that is—that they allege to be a satellite will harm a path toward resumed dialogues the United States made. There should be close cooperation between Japan and the United States; Japan, the U.S., and ROK, and further with the other concerned countries, including China and Russia. Efforts need to be made until the last moment so that North Korea are restrained from the launch. This is something that the two people agreed on.

We believe that in the upcoming G-8 meeting that is to be held from tomorrow, it is necessary for us to issue a very strong message. Should DPRK goes ahead and launch it, that would obviously be a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Vis-é-vis repeated violations of the Security Council resolutions, Japan and the United States should cooperate with each other closely. The international security, including the Security Council, should take appropriate actions, and that is something that we also agreed upon.

Q. Thank you, Madam Secretary. To follow up on your comments on North Korea, what do you do next if it looks as if the launch is ready to be undertaken? Repeated Security Council violations, and it looks as if China is unable or unwilling to do anything to persuade the North. I mean—and does that put you in a bit of a box in terms of what you can do? Because the longer you go without talking with North Korea, the longer they have to constitute their—further constitute their program. And on Syria, it's clear that today is April 10^th and President Assad has violated his own self-imposed deadline. What are your next steps? Considering now that Syrian troops have fired across the border into Turkey, no one can claim that this is just an internal Syrian matter. This seems to becoming a much wider issue of international—threat to international security. Thank you.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you very much. Let me make absolutely clear that any launch by North Korea would be a serious, clear violation of their obligations under already existing UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874.

We are consulting closely in capitals and at the United Nations in New York, and we will be pursuing appropriate action. But I would just underscore that if North Korea wants a peaceful, better future for their people, it should not conduct another launch that would be a direct threat to regional security.

With respect to Syria, Kofi Annan made clear to the Security Council this morning that Assad is not complying with the commitments that he made under the six-point plan and that, in fact, the violence has only gotten worse over this last week. Just yesterday, Syrian forces fired on refugees fleeing across the border into Turkey. They then lit fires to their own forests to try to flush out opposition fighters, and they fired across the border into Lebanon. We are holding intensive discussions in New York, again in capitals. I've spoken with the Turkish foreign minister. We will be discussing this at the G-8 ministerial meeting. I will be particularly raising this with Foreign Minister Lavrov. And the Council will hear directly from Kofi Annan on Thursday.

Q. I would like to ask this question to both Secretary Clinton and Minister Gemba. And my question has to do with a post-launch response of North Korea. Now, Minister Gemba earlier said that Japan and the United States would closely cooperate with each other. It was agreed that they would take an appropriate measure in the event of a launch of a missile. Now, specifically, what is going to be done?

This month, the United States is the chair country of the Security Council. So now if there's a launch of the missile by North Koreans, do you have an intention to convene an emergency Security Council meeting? And I would like to ask Foreign Minister Gemba if you have an intention to ask for a convocation of such an emergency Security Council meeting. Now, at the Security Council meeting, Minister Gemba—well, you said on your own that you have been approaching China about the post-launch response that China might make. Now, do you have an intention to seek a new resolution about this in the Security Council meeting? And on the part of the United States, if there is such a request for a new resolution, how would the Security Council respond to such a request? Do you have a meeting of minds, agreements on this matter between yourselves?

Foreign Minister Gemba. To answer the question posed by Mr. Mizuno, that is indeed a matter that we discussed in full detail in the meeting. However, this is a diplomatic effort, so I do not think it is appropriate for me to mention in detail what was really discussed.

As I said a moment ago, if there's a launch of the missile by North Koreans, we agreed that we would take an appropriate measure that includes—the United States and Japan would cooperate with each other and the international community, including the Security Council, would take an appropriate measure.

Secretary Clinton. I completely agree with the foreign minister. Thank you so much, Minister.

Ambassador Susan Rice gave the following remarks at the UN Security Council

This morning, as you may know, the 1718 Committee—the North Korea Sanctions Committee—has reached agreement on a new set of sanctions against North Korea as a consequence of their missile launch a few weeks ago and as we decided we would in the context of our presidential statement. These new sanctions include the designation of and the freezing of assets of three very significant North Korean entities very much involved in their illicit missile and nuclear programs. It also includes the updating of the missile technology control regime list and the nuclear suppliers group list, which we view as very important to tightening and keeping current the important regime against North Korea. And it also entails a new work plan for the Panel of Experts. Taken together, we view this as a strong and credible set of new sanctions by the 1718 Committee, and we're pleased with that result as well.

Secretaries Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta and Ministers Kim Sung-Hwan and Kim Kwan-jin gave the following remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. With regard to North Korea, our message remains unchanged. North Korea must comply with its international obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874. It must abandon its nuclear weapons and all existing nuclear programs, including programs for uranium enrichment. And it must finally put the welfare of its own people first and respect the rights of its own citizens. Only under these circumstances will North Korea be able to end its isolation from the international community and alleviate the suffering of its people.

So again let me thank the ministers for our excellent discussions. And let me thank the Korean people for the friendship between our countries that continues to grow.

And now let me turn it over to Foreign Minister Kim.

Foreign Minister Kim. And we also agreed that should North Korea provoke again, then that we will show a very decisive response to such provocation. But we also shared our view that the road to dialogue and cooperation is open should North Korea stop its provocation and show a genuine change in its attitude by taking concrete measures.

Also, in order to enhance deterrence against North Korea's potential provocation using nuclear and conventional forces, we decided to develop more effective and concrete (inaudible) policies. We also agreed to promote bilateral cooperation regarding North Korea, just as Secretary Clinton just mentioned, against cyber security threats, and will in this regard launch a whole-of-government consultative body.

We are concerned the human rights situation, the quality of life of the North Korean people, have reached a serious level and urge the North Korean Government to respect the human rights of its people and to improve their living condition.

The Republic of Korea welcomes the U.S. policy that places emphasis on the Asia Pacific. We agree that the increased U.S. role within the Asia Pacific region will greatly contribute to peace and stability in this region. We welcome the efforts of the Government of Myanmar to advance democracy and improve human rights and continue supporting such efforts.

Today's meeting was very productive and meaningful in that it allowed us to review the current status of the alliance. And we also agreed to discuss a way forward for our strategic cooperation. We'll continue to hold this 2+2 ministerial meeting in the future.

Defense Minister Kim. Today's 2+2 ministerial meeting was held at a strategically critical moment amid continuing provocation threats from North Korea and volatile security environment in North Korea, a time which calls for a proactive alliance response.

Through today's meeting, the two countries confirmed once again that the ROK-U.S. alliance is more solid than ever, and made it very clear that the alliance will strongly and consistently respond to any North Korean provocation, in particular regarding North Korean nuclear and missile threat. The ROK and the U.S. agreed to strengthen policy coordination to reaffirm the strong U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrents and to develop extended deterrent policies in an effective and substantial way. We also agreed to strengthen alliance capability against North Korea's increasing asymmetric threats such as cyber threats like the DDoS attack and GPS jammings.

Furthermore, the two countries confirmed that the 2015 transition of operational control and the building of a new combined defense system are progressing as planned. We also confirmed that they were—ROK military will acquire the critical—military capabilities needed to lead the combined defense, and the U.S. military will provide bridging and engineering capabilities.

The two countries also confirmed that USFK bases relocation projects such as YRP and LPP are well underway and agreed to work to ensure that these projects are completed in time. We assess that combined exercises in the West Sea and Northwest Islands deter North Korean provocation and greatly contribute to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. We agreed to continue these exercises under close bilateral coordination.

Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the ROK-U.S. alliance which was born in 1953 with the signing of the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. In the past six decades, the two countries worked to ensure a perfect security of the peninsula and have developed the alliance into the most successful alliance in history. In the future, the two countries will expand and deepen the scope and level of defense cooperation from the Korean Peninsula, and to the regional and global security issues, will continue evolving the alliance into the best alliance in the world for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, and of the world. Thank you.

Q. Reporter from the SBS, Ju. This is a question for Defense Minister Kim and Secretary Panetta. Right now, the Korean media is dealing—covering very extensively about the range extension of the Korean ballistic missiles and that the ROK side is insisting on 800 kilometer whereas the U.S. is insisting on 500 kilometer, where although the countries have agreed on the payload. Senator Carl Levin said that he is positive when it comes to the range extension. Has this issue been discussed at the 2+2, and will the two countries be able to show a concrete outcome by the end of the year?

One additional question is—this one is for Secretary Clinton. Kim Jong-un, the new leader, he has taken over his father, deceased father, and is now already six month as the new leader. How do you assess his leadership so far?

Defense Minister Kim. Let me first address this range extension issue. This is still being discussed on the working level. This issue was not dealt at today's 2+2 ministerial meeting.

Secretary Panetta. In consultation and negotiations with the Republic of Korea with regards to this area, I think we're making good progress. And our hope is that we can arrive at an agreeable solution soon.

Secretary Clinton. Regarding the new leader in North Korea, I believe leaders are judged by what they do to help their people have better lives, whether they create stability and security, prosperity, opportunity. And this new young leader has a choice to make, and we are hoping that he will make a choice that benefits all of his people.

And we also believe strongly that North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations, which will only continue to isolate the country and provide no real opportunity for engagement and work toward a better future. And so we hope that the new leadership in Pyongyang will live up to its agreements, will not engage in threats and provocations, will put the North Korean people first. Rather than spending money on implements of war, feed your people, provide education and healthcare, and lift your people out of poverty and isolation.

This young man, should he make a choice that would help bring North Korea into the 21st century, could go down in history as a transformative leader. Or he can continue the model of the past and eventually North Korea will change, because at some point people cannot live under such oppressive conditions—starving to death, being put into gulags, and having their basic human rights denied. So we're hoping that he will chart a different course for his people.