US President Barack Obama said he was willing to help North Korea repair its economy and end decades of international isolation if Pyongyang stopped a cycle of threats and finally moved towards nuclear disarmament.
Speaking to reporters at the end a week-long Asia tour, Obama said he and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed the North must end a pattern of provocations that simply ended up with demands for more concessions but never resolved the central problem. The two leaders also pledged to work to secure approval by their respective legislatures for their own free trade deal, signed more than two years ago. Lee said he was ready to discuss the main issue holding up ratification -- opening up the auto market.
"Our message is clear. If North Korea is prepared to take concrete and irreversible steps to fulfil its obligations and eliminate its nuclear weapons programme, the United States will support economic assistance and help promote its full integration into the community of nations," Obama said. Obama and Lee have piled pressure on the destitute North by targeting its finances and telling Pyongyang it will win massive rewards if it abandons its atomic ambitions. "The thing I want to emphasise is that President Lee and I both agree we want to break the pattern that existed in the past, in which North Korea behaves in a provocative fashion, and then is willing to return to talk ... and then that leads to seeking further concessions," Obama said.
Envoy: Obama said he would send his first envoy to North Korea on December 8 to press Pyongyang to return to talks, frozen for almost a year, with regional powers to give up building a nuclear arsenal.
Lee said he held out hopes for a deal with the reclusive neighbour under which it would end its decades-long ambitions to build a nuclear arsenal. "I hope that by accepting our proposal, the North will secure safety for itself, improve the quality of life for its people, and open the path to a new future," Lee said. Thousands of cheering South Koreans lined the streets of downtown Seoul as Obama's motorcade drove by. Police stopped one group of anti-Pyongyang protesters setting fire to a North Korean flag as the Obama convoy drove through the centre of Seoul, barely 40 km from the border that has divided the two Koreas for more than half a century.
Posted by newc">newc
2009-11-20 06:10||
2009-11-20 06:10||
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#2 Obama: Charlie Brown
Norks: Lucy holding the ball
"OK, make it a good one!"
Posted by KBK 2009-11-20 10:24||
2009-11-20 10:24||
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#3 Fix Nork with borrowed money from China. Wotta Genius.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2009-11-20 11:01||
2009-11-20 11:01||
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#4 Speaking of Charlie Brown and the football,
I saw a humor clip where Charlie brown comes running, and kicks lucy out of sight while the football stays upright.
Posted by Redneck Jim 2009-11-20 22:51||
2009-11-20 22:51||
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#5 RJ: nice thought but you can bet the ranch that the 'Waffler-in-Chief' won't kick anybody. except maybe real Americans.
Posted by USN, Ret. 2009-11-20 23:06||
2009-11-20 23:06||
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
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