Obama says no food aid to North Korea if rocket is launched

Posted on : 2012-03-26 12:52 KST Modified on : 2012-03-26 12:52 KST
The two presidents ask Pyongyang to make a ‘wise choice’
 staff photographer)
staff photographer)

By Ahn Chang-hyun, staff writer 

At their meeting on Sunday, South Korea and the United States branded North Korea‘s plan to launch a long-range rocket a provocative act and made clear that they would respond to it together. This was another demonstration of close cooperation between Seoul and Washington at a time when developments on the Korean peninsula are in turmoil.

Recent tensions have come from the North’s announcement of plans to launch a long-range rocket after agreeing with the US on February 29 to halt its nuclear program in exchange for food aid. Barack Obama, in particular, was cautious but sent an obvious message to North Korea by making it clear that the food aid promised by the US to the North in accordance with the recent agreement would be severed if the North went ahead with the rocket launch.

At a joint press conference following a meeting on Sunday evening, Obama and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak criticized the North‘s long-range rocket launch plan and urged Pyongyang to cancel it. Lee mentioned that the rocket launch would contravene a UN Security Council resolution, while Obama said the plan violated the North’s own promise made in the February 29 agreement.

Obama arrived in Seoul on Sunday ahead of the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, which begins on Monday and lasts for two days. “The summit meeting between the two heads of state alone demonstrated the strength of cooperation between South Korea and the US regarding North Korea,” said one high-level Blue House official.

The two leaders spoke cautiously when asked whether the launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 would lead to additional sanctions on North Korea. They went only so far as to urge the North to make a “wise choice.” Obama said that the North was already subject to considerable sanctions and was the world‘s most isolated state. It had been provided with an opportunity to follow a new path, he said, but it would become harder to provide this opportunity if the North launched a missile.

Regarding a mass rally held in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark 100 days since the death of Kim Jong-il, Obama said he wished the North would make a different choice from showing off its weapons through mass rallies. Lee showed a slightly more hard-line attitude, saying that this would lead to further isolation of the North, and that the North would have only itself to blame for this.

Obama said that the North’s bad behavior would not be rewarded and that while such a pattern had existed for the past few decades, he now intended to sever it. He said that providing food aid would be difficult if the North was unable to keep a promise made just a month ago. By emphasizing that the choice was North Korea’s to make, however, Obama hinted at his intention to maintain the momentum of the February 29 agreement.

When asked their opinions on new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, both heads of state avoided giving direct answers. Obama said it was hard to talk about his impressions as the situation in North Korea was still unstable, while Lee said he was a little disappointed at the North’s current behavior but would wait and see what happens next.

The two leaders also agreed to quickly form a bilateral ministerial-level joint committee, in accordance with the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, which took effect on March 15. The leaders also agreed to examine the implementation of the agreement and its effects on job creation. Lee thanked Obama for his visit earlier in the day to the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea, saying that it had provided great encouragement. Yesterday’s summit meeting was the eleventh between the two leaders and Obama’s third visit to South Korea, following that of the G20 summit last year. This makes Obama the US president to have visited Korea the most times during a single four-year term in office.

U.S. President Barack Obama visits the observation post Ouellette in the DMZ near Panmunjom Joint Security Area. Obama looks to the North Korean side through a telescope while listening to a briefing by Lt. Colonel Edward Taylor
U.S. President Barack Obama visits the observation post Ouellette in the DMZ near Panmunjom Joint Security Area. Obama looks to the North Korean side through a telescope while listening to a briefing by Lt. Colonel Edward Taylor

 

 

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