Obama and Lee Condemn North Korea's Nuclear Program
The U.S. president and the president of South Korea held a joint press conference
With North Korea as a possible nuclear threat and in the aftermath of the country's recent jailing of 2 American journalists, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had a lot to talk about this morning. At the top of the list was North Korea's controversial nuclear program.
"We agreed that under no circumstance are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons," Lee said during a joint news conference with Obama at the White House today.
Obama, agreeing with the South Korean president, said that North Korea poses a "grave threat" to the world and also vowed to break a cycle that allows Pyongyang to create a crisis and then be rewarded with incentives to back down.
"We will pursue denuclearization on the Korean peninsula vigorously," Obama said.
The united front between the United States and South Korea comes shortly after the U.N. Security Council announced tougher sanctions on North Korea after the country's second nuclear test last month. Resolution 1874, which passed unanimously, demands that North Korea halt its nuclear and missile activity and return unconditionally to the six-party talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States about nuclear disarmament.
Lee also made the trip to Washington in hopes that he could revive a stalled free-trade agreement between South Korea and the United States.
Obama said that he was "committed to moving forward on a path that will increase commercial ties that are already very strong between our two countries."
- Read more about the 2 journalists held in North Korea.
Reader Comments
How to solve North Korea's nuclear program?
Simply put it,there is no way to stop Kim Jong IL ( I call him Kimmy) from building nuclear weapons..North Korea asked U.S. to drop hostility towards it and U.S. asked North Korea to return to six-party talks..Will bombing of North Korea by U.S.Air Force pay off? I doubt it..The only thing I can suggest as a solution to a tricky problem like North Korea's nuke issue is for 2 Koreas + U.S.A. to sit down and have honest heart-to-heart conversation..The trouble is North Korea is so belligerent they don't want peace they want to unify 2 Koreas by means of force..
Anyway U.S.Army is needed in Korea because even after North Korea's regime collapses, there are still other dangerous factors namely nuclear arms race among China,Russian Far East & Japan..Japan may feel tempted to build nukes in the wake of Kimmy's underground nuclear testing..Neither China nor U.S.A. want Japan armed with nukes while North Korea fires away with rockets,missiles or whatever..Six-party talks is one of the best ways to put restraint on countries to North East Asia not to go nuclear not only for North Korea but to Japan as well..
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