Obama urges N. Korea to abandon nuke weapon pursuit

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama warned North Korea on Monday, March 26 its options are few and friends fewer as the nation refuses to back down from actions the world sees as menacing, AP reported.

"By now it should be clear," Obama said, addressing North Korea from the South Korean capital only about 30 miles away. "Your provocations and pursuit of nuclear weapons have not achieved the security you seek, they have undermined it. Instead of the dignity you desire, you are more isolated."

As he spoke, his South Korean hosts warned they might shoot down parts of a North Korean rocket if they fell over South Korean territory, as worries about what Washington calls a long-range missile test overshadowed an international nuclear security summit. The summit of more than 50 nations opened with a dinner Monday.

In remarks earlier Monday at Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Obama directly challenged North Korea's leaders "to have the courage to pursue peace."

The threat posed by nearby nuclear-equipped North Korea also loomed large over Obama's meeting on the sidelines of the summit Monday with the president of China, Pyongyang's main ally.

The White House said Obama urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to use his country's influence over North Korea to push the isolated country to meet its international obligations. Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said Hu indicated that China was taking North Korea's planned rocket launch seriously and letting its concerns be known to the North's leaders.

The United States maintains that the launch, which Pyongyang says will happen next month, would amount to a test of North Korea's long-range rocketry.

News of the planned launch dominated the diplomatic talk in Seoul, where world leaders are gathered to discuss steps to reduce the threat of nuclear material.