Parties Split on Park-Obama Statement on N. Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday they were open to negotiations with North Korea on sanctions but Pyongyang needed to show it was serious about abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

At a White House news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, President Obama was asked about the Democratic debate and Vice President Biden’s status as a possible presidential candidate.

Obama said Iran had been prepared to have a “serious conversation” about the possibility of giving up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Park also said she plans to host leaders of China and Japan in two weeks for a trilateral summit, noting it could serve as an occasion to improve relations between South Korea and Japan. “Yet, North Korea clings to the path of isolation by continuing its military provocations and development of nuclear capabilities”, she said.

South Korea’s president said Thursday that an upcoming summit of Northeast Asia’s three leading powers will be a chance to improve her nation’s strained relations with Japan.

Park said only 47 such women in South Korea remain alive and majority were almost in their 90s, referring to data on 238 women recognized by the South Korean government as former “comfort women”, as they are euphemistically called in Japan.

However, she said in language certain to infuriate North Korea: “There is a saying: You can take a horse to the trough, but you can’t make it drink water”.

Jeong said the gaps in understanding of the Manwoldae site between South and North scholars are not that significant, even though South Korea has not actually investigated the site until now.

– Iran has often violated rules on missile testing, but said the recent agreement with the U.S.is designed only to keep Tehran from development a nuclear weapon; the US and allies will continue to pressure Iran over missile testing and other bad behaviors.

The United States is eager to encourage better relations between South Korea and Japan, its two largest allies in Asia, given considerations about North Korea and an more and more assertive China.

Park stated the trilateral summit can be held in Seoul in early November, after a niche of 3-1/2-years. “As I see South Korean and American soldiers working shoulder-to-shoulder, I think you, standing together on the front line of freedom, are the heart of the South Korea-U.S. alliance”.

Since arriving in Washington on Tuesday, Park has been seeking a fresh momentum in the alliance to wipe off growing fears about Seoul’s cosy relationship with Beijing after she attended a Chinese military parade shunned by most of Western leaders. South Korea has a vested interest in making the issue a priority. The US troop presence along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two stretches back to the United Nations force that repulsed the North’s 1950 invasion of the South.

As South Korea itself bolsters its relationship with China, Park urged Obama to work with Beijing on a variety of issues, including nuclear talks with North Korea, the Washington Times reported.

Ms. Park acknowledged the severity of the military threat posed by North Korea during a speech at CSIS on Thursday evening.