Obama, S. Korea President Talk Tough on N. Korea But...

President Barack Obama and President Lee Myung Bak of South Korea made a show of solidarity against North Korea's recent provocations in their joint press conference following their meeting in the White House Oval Office.

But if they had a solution to the menace of North Korea that went beyond the carrot-and-stick approaches used to date to little avail, it wasn't obvious. So they did exactly the opposite of what Theodore Roosevelt recommended. They talked loudly but carried a little stick.

In his statement, Obama talked of the shared goal of U.S. and South Korean policymakers to denuclearize (is that really a word?) the Korean peninsula:

"So I want to be clear that there is another path available to North Korea, a path that leads to peace and economic opportunity for the people of North Korea, including full integration into the community of nations. That destination can only be reached through peaceful negotiations that achieve the full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That is the opportunity."

South Korean President Lee agreed:

As reiterated by President Obama, we agreed that under no circumstance are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons. We also agreed to robustly implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874. Of course, all the parties will faithfully take part in implementing this resolution.

Also we agreed that based on this firm cooperation between the U.S. and Korea, the five countries taking part in the six-party talks will discuss measures and policies that will effectively persuade North Korea to irrevocably dismantle all their nuclear weapons programs.

 

South Korea's Lee was asked if he thought his nation was at risk from an attack by North Korea. He seized the opportunity to state that South Korea was fully under the U.S. security umbrella which he indicated was deterrent enough to keep the North Koreans from doing anything rash. It sounded like a signal as much to worried South Koreans as much as a message to their northern cousins.

The North Koreans, when they look at the firm partnership and alliance that we have between our two countries, they will think twice about taking any measures that they will regret. And again, this very firm alliance that we have between the United States and Korea is going to prevent anything from happening. And of course, North Korea may have — may wish to do so, but of course they will not be able to do so.

Worth noting is that Obama left it to Lee to mention the two American journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea. The last thing the Obama Administration wants is to have any linkage between U.S. policy towards North Korea's nukes and the release of the journalists. Lee merely asked the North Koreans to release the two journalists as well as a South Korean worker held by the north.