STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- North Korea takes final step needed for nuclear test
- South Korean official delivers the news as President Obama arrives in Seoul
- Capsizing of ferry that so far has killed 180 people will overshadow his visit to S. Korea
- Obama to offer condolences to families of ferry victims
Seoul (CNN) -- President Obama arrived in Seoul, South Korea, Friday to news that North Korea may be counting down to a nuclear weapons test.
Such moves out of Pyongyang are no surprise and are typical for the North's behavior, Obama told reporters while in Tokyo, his previous stop on his Asia trip.
The President said he is prepared to deliver a firm response, if a test is conducted during his visit.
North Korea's heightened activity at its nuclear test site was already known. But now the final step needed for an underground detonation has been taken, a South Korean government official said Thursday.
The North has closed off the entrance to the tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, the official said.
That gives Pyongyang 11 days to either detonate a nuclear device or cancel the test. It would be the North's fourth test of a nuclear weapon.
United front
Both Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye want to display a united front against North Korea, and the communist dictatorship has reacted to the American President's visit with condemnation.
Its foreign ministry has called the trip "a reactionary and dangerous one, as it is aimed to escalate confrontation and bring dark clouds of a nuclear arms race to hang over this unstable region."
On Thursday, Obama called on North Korea "to start changing your behavior."
"They are the most isolated country in the world," he said. "They are subject to more international sanctions and international condemnation than any country in the world. As a consequence, their people suffer as much as any peoples in the world."
Ferry disaster
The possibility of a nuclear test adds a dark cloud to the grim mood already overshadowing Obama's visit -- the sorrow over the capsizing of the ferry Sewol.
As he often does at home, he is acting as "consoler-in-chief," offering support to survivors and victims' families as he pauses from the policy and diplomatic demands.
More than 180 have been confirmed dead, many of them high school students, and the nation has been consumed with grief. Many of the nearly 500 on board are still missing.
The tragedy has occupied most of Park's time over the past week.
Obama presented her with a framed American flag that was flown over the White House the same day the ferry sank as a symbol of condolence.
In an interview with Korean news outlet JoongAng Ilbo, he said:
"Michelle and I sent our deepest condolences to the South Korean people, and as parents we cannot begin to imagine what all those grieving parents are going through having lost their sons and daughters."
Stately ceremonies
The President also tended to American servicemen and women in South Korea on Friday.
He laid a wreath at the National War Memorial to commemorate those who died in the war between the Koreas from 1950 to 1953.
Nearly 3 million people died on all sides, including more than 36,000 American servicemen. The conflict ended in an armistice that stopped the fighting, but a peace treaty was never signed.
The United States has maintained a large military presence in South Korea since then.
The President also congratulated U.S. military personnel and spouses of soldiers who were being naturalized as U.S. citizens Friday.
He took the opportunity to stump for immigration reform.
"Thirteen of you made the profound decision to put on the uniform of a country that was not yet fully your own," he said from the stage. "Seven of you married a military soldier."
He praised the new citizens, who had immigrated from 14 different countries as an asset to the United States. He said Americans must "keep in mind the value of our immigrants to our way of life. It is central to who we are."
After they took the oath of citizenship, the President posed for a photo with the entire group.
Pacific allies
Obama headed to Seoul from Tokyo, where a formal state visit --- complete with a royal audience and a black-tie dinner --- was meant to exhibit strong ties between Japan and the United States.
At a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Obama was pressed on whether he would use military force to defend an obscure set of islands controlled by Japan that are at the heart of a heated regional dispute with China.
He said the U.S. security pact with Japan does extend to the islands -- known as Diaoyu to the Chinese -- and insisted his implicit offer to defend them against any Chinese incursion did not amount to drawing a red line around the contested land.
"The treaty between the U.S. and Japan preceded my birth, so this isn't a red line that I'm drawing," Obama said. "There's no shift in position, no red line. Were simply applying the treaty."
The group of islands and rocks jutting out of the ocean is tiny and uninhabited. But the long-standing dispute over them has sent tempers flaring in Beijing and Tokyo, especially in recent years.
The area around them in the South China Sea between Taiwan and Okinawa is believed to be rich in oil resources.
Senkaku is administered by the Japanese, but the Chinese claim they are the rightful owners.
The missing plane
Seoul is the first of two stops on Obama's tour where citizens are coming to grips with major transportation disasters --- on Saturday Obama flies to Malaysia, where government officials continue to search in vain for the Malaysian Airlines jetliner that disappeared more than a month ago.
Those officials have come under withering criticism, accused of botching the search and keeping family members of those on board in the dark.
So far the White House has avoided faulting Malaysian leaders for the efforts, instead highlighting the U.S. efforts to help locate the plane.
Read: India, Japan snuggle closer as China power grows
Read Longtime rivals China and Japan deploy Harry Potter villain in latest spat
Read: 2013: Biden tells Chinese president of 'deep concerns' over air defense zone
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Serena Dong in Beijing contributed to this report.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Possible North Korea nuclear test looms over Obama's visit to South Korea - CNN
Dengan url
https://goartikelasik.blogspot.com/2014/04/possible-north-korea-nuclear-test-looms.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Possible North Korea nuclear test looms over Obama's visit to South Korea - CNN
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Possible North Korea nuclear test looms over Obama's visit to South Korea - CNN
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar