Obama, Lee Press North Korea

| Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Tuesday that a nuclear-armed North Korea poses a "grave threat" to the world and vowed to end a cycle of allowing Pyongyang to create a crisis and then be rewarded with incentives to back down.

Reuters

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak speaks as U.S. President Barack Obama looks on during joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House.

"This is a pattern they've come to expect," Mr. Obama said. "We are going to break that pattern."

With South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at his side in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama said they agreed that a new U.N. resolution seeking to halt North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles must be fully enforced. The U.N. did not authorize military force to enforce the measures.

Mr. Lee said he and Mr. Obama agreed that "under no circumstance are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons."

Mr. Obama said that North Korea's record of threatening other countries and spreading nuclear technology around the world means it should not be recognized as a legitimate nuclear power.

"We will pursue denuclearization on the Korean peninsula vigorously," Mr. Obama said. "So we have not come to a conclusion that North Korea will or should be a nuclear power. Given their past behavior, given the belligerent manner in which they are constantly threatening their neighbors, I don't think there's any question that that would be a destabilizing situation that would be a profound threat not only to United States' security but to world security."

Nor will the international community respond to North Korean provocations, such as additional underground nuclear tests, by offering financial incentives, Mr. Lee said.

"They will not be able to gain compensation by provoking a crisis," he said.

North Korea has bargained with other countries for more than a decade about giving up its nuclear program, gaining such concession as energy and economic aid, and then reneging.

Mr. Lee also called on the North Korean government to release two American journalists and one South Korean worker who are jailed in the North.

North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25 and subsequently test-fired a series of short-range ground to air missiles.

Before leaving Seoul, Mr. Lee said he supported Mr. Obama's appeal for a world without nuclear weapons. However, he told The Wall Street Journal, "we are faced with North Korea trying to become a nuclear power, and this really is a question we must deal with now."

Mr. Lee's talks with Mr. Obama come on the second day of a three-day visit also scheduled to include meetings with U.S. trade envoy Ron Kirk, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Mr. Lee to Washington on Monday, the same day tens of thousands rallied in Pyongyang to condemn sanctions imposed by the United Nations after the country's latest nuclear test.

Mr. Lee's office released a statement saying Mrs. Clinton had called for close cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan in implementing the U.N. sanctions to "get North Korea to realize that its bad behavior will bring due consequences."

Mr. Lee told Mrs. Clinton that "as long as the United States and its allies maintain a firm stance, North Korea's belief that it will be rewarded for its bad behavior if it waits long enough will dissipate," the statement said.

North Korea is reportedly readying a possible test of a missile that could reach Alaska. The North also may be preparing for a third nuclear test in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

The U.S. government officially confirmed Monday that North Korea carried out an underground atomic test in late May. The Americans said the blast was somewhat larger than the country's first test, conducted in 2006.

Victor Cha, a senior Asia adviser in President George W. Bush's administration, said another nuclear test could motivate U.N. member states to actually enforce the sanctions specified in the U.N. resolution against the North.

Mr. Lee has infuriated North Korea since he took office in early 2008. He ended a decade of liberal rule in which South Korea sought to embrace the North and refrained from criticism, a so-called "sunshine" policy that provided aid without demanding concessions. Pyongyang regularly calls Mr. Lee a traitor.

While the nuclear standoff will top discussions, another tense issue looms for Messrs. Lee and Obama: an ambitious South Korean-U.S. free trade agreement to slash tariffs on goods and services.

The deal was painstakingly negotiated but currently is in limbo, stalled over U.S. lawmakers' worries it could hurt an already suffering American auto industry.

The agreement signed in 2007 has been promoted as a potential $10 billion boon to the U.S. economy. Failure, supporters say, would threaten U.S. standing in an important region.

Mr. Obama, however, has said the deal doesn't adequately deal with an imbalance that has heavily favored South Korean auto makers. His administration is now reviewing the deal.