U.S. President Barack Obama today traveled to South Korea for talks that are expected to address options for drawing North Korea back to the stalled six-nation nuclear negotiations, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 17).
South Korean officials said that Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak would focus their attention on North Korea when they meet tomorrow.
Obama, in his first presidential trip to Asia this week, is working to build momentum toward renewing the six-party talks with fellow participants China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas. The talks were last held in December 2008; since then, Pyongyang has conducted its second nuclear test, declared production of additional weapon-grade plutonium and claimed to be closing in on a uranium enrichment capability.
"They will be strongly pressing for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, but simultaneously letting the state know it has much to gain if it does," said South Korean analyst Chung Seong-chang (Herskovitz/Zengerle, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Nov. 18).