President Barack Obama paused in the Rose Garden today to declare that North Korea's nuclear testing demands "action'' from the international comunity. (Photo above by Charles Dharapak / AP ) He headed from there to the Memorial Day cermenonies at Arlington National Cemetery (Photo below by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP.)
by Mark Silva
On his way to Arlington National Cemetery today, President Barack Obama paused to address the nuclear test that North Korea has carried out, to say that the international community must "stand up'' and "take action'' on North Korea's affront.
Both the underground test and the second test of a missile since April suggest that "North Korea's nuclear ballistic missile programs pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world, and I strongly condemn their reckless action,'' Obama said.
"North Korea's actions endanger the people of Northeast Asia, they are a blatant violation of international law, and they contradict North Korea's own prior commitments,'' he said. "The United States and the international community must take action in response.
"The record is clear: North Korea has previously committed to abandoning its nuclear program,'' the president said. "Instead of following through on that commitment it has chosen to ignore that commitment.
"These actions have also flown in the face of United Nations resolutions,'' he said. "As a result North Korea is not only deepening its own isolation, it's also inviting stronger international pressure -- that's evident overnight, as Russia and China, as well a our traditional allies of South Korea and Japan, have all come to the same conclusion: North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons.
"We will work with our friends and our allies to stand up to this behavior and we will redouble our efforts toward a more robust international nonproliferation regime that all countries have responsibilities to meet,'' the president said. "In this effort the United States will never waiver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world.''
Comments
....behold the rookie President! Good luck with this one, you don't have a lot of credibility going.
Posted by: Otis | May 25, 2009 12:55 PM
No country pays attention if all you are going to do is talk. North Korea is like the proverbial mule. You need to hit it over the head with a 2x4 to get its attention. They have played the last three presidents by talking a good game and then not following through. We eased up some banking pressure on them for their "cooperation" and they respond by restarting their reactor and conducting another nuclear test. Sooner or later they are going to do something that we or their neighbors are going regret and I don't mean killing their own people through starvation and execution.
Posted by: Paul | May 25, 2009 12:58 PM
Get ready to hear the whining from the wingnutosphere about how Obama will do nothing about this, while they conveniently ignore the fact that Bush also did nothing when North Korea launched a missle during his administration.
Posted by: BC | May 25, 2009 1:02 PM
The UN is a joke ! More do nothing resolutions, North Korea's leaders care nothing about international resolutions, they are thumbing their nose's at the world. Obama and his tough talk mean nothing to them, they are outright challenging the worl to do something.
Posted by: Tony | May 25, 2009 1:24 PM
NK has been "disregarding worls opinion" for half a century. Obama is insane for thinking his empty threats will matter to the North Koreans. Now we'll all see the disadvantages of having a inexperienced talker as president. God help us all.
Posted by: George | May 25, 2009 1:39 PM
Write 'em a nasty letter Barrack!
Posted by: JD | May 25, 2009 1:58 PM
What can anyone possibly do about it? Sanctions are useless, and actually invading them would ensure that they nuke South Korea. The North Koreans starve their own people, so they wouldn't hesitate to nuke Seoul if a war breaks out. The time to stop them was before they got nukes. Now that they have them, it's too late.
Posted by: Dan | May 25, 2009 2:09 PM
It only took 3 posts before some moron tried to excuse BO's incompetence by citing the previous Presidents incompetence.
Posted by: Hope n Change | May 25, 2009 2:35 PM
BC - what will Obama do about North Korea?
My guess is that he will follow the UN and just talk about it. Bush might have done nothing more than talk, but North Korea knows that Obama is just talk.
Posted by: zermatt | May 25, 2009 2:41 PM
I'd sure like to hear someone's rational idea of a solution to the North Korean situation that does not involve the negotiations that one president has pursued and now another is pursuing.
Posted by: Mark Silva | May 25, 2009 3:06 PM
I look at it this way: if Obama is going to do anything more serious at some future date, from now on he can say they were warned.
If things get worse and he does nothing more, sure, THEN you can say that this was a sign of weakness.
But if he were to now make a brazen threat, as some suggest he do, then he HAS to follow through. Which is a very good reason NOT to make such a threat in the first place!
(Look at the deep doo-doo that GWB's macho threats got him into!)
We have a group of people here who think only arrogant chest-thumping, violence and brinksmanship solve world problems. They equate the use of diplomacy with Neville Chamberlain's appeasement to Hitler.
For Obama to open with a military volley from the very beginning is just foolish.
And only foolish people would suggest such a response.
We voted Obama to be President. Let him do his job.
Posted by: David | May 25, 2009 3:25 PM
JD wrote: "Write 'em a nasty letter Barrack!"
i second that thought! i'll get him started:
dear president il-
it has come to my attention that you have recently detonated a nuclear device. as you know, this has put you at odds with the security council with which you have defied during your tenure as leader. we will have no choice but to yet again issue you a stern warning.
yours truly,
Barack Obama
Posted by: Dan | May 25, 2009 3:37 PM
What do we Americans expect will happen if we don't negotiate with North Korea? Also, if we do negotiate with North Korea and they go against what was proposed, what will America/UN do then? It just seems like an endless circle to me.
Posted by: Caitlin | May 25, 2009 3:50 PM
No one likes or invites trouble-makers to their parties. Being liked and popular is more important than good looks.
Posted by: loved one | May 25, 2009 4:00 PM
Though North Korea has no regard for the opinions of numerous World Leaders--if any--they will continue to test Obama. They see Obama as a Weak American President given Obamas "Apology" tour and his "Can't we all get along" attitude. Biden said Obama would be tested, andtested quickly.
Posted by: JoeH | May 25, 2009 4:55 PM
The previous eight years, we had the flatliners say that the US can't dictate our demands to other countries, so with NK we have the six-party talks. With Iran, we have the EU have negotiations. None of those options have worked.
Bill Clinton tried to bribe NK from their nuclear program with fuel oil and food. This was negoitiated by former president Jimmy Carter. We all shaould have known how that would turn out.
To answer Mark "does he ever take a day off" Silva's question, it is hard to negotiate with someone when you cannot trust what they say.
Posted by: Terry | May 25, 2009 5:13 PM
RE: TONY "THE UN IS A JOKE!.
Your spot on, American has thrown so much money at this organization its not even funny. Its a total waste. I'll be 70 years old next birthday and I can not remember when the UN did one thing to help out the rest of the world, The only way the UN can go on be a viable organization is if they rewrite the rules so that no country has veto power and have it so majority rules. Either that or make it a parking lot. Obama is to find out soon enough that talking nice to our enemies isn't going to cut the mustard.
Posted by: Paul | May 25, 2009 6:03 PM
I don't think military threats are useful against a nut like KJI. It would only validate his paranoid ramblings that the US wants to invade. The key to this is China. They are the only country that NK could arguably call an ally, and they provide a great deal of aid to that poor country. UN resolutions without China firmly behind them are useless. Problem is that China has a long standing policy of claiming that the UN has no business meddling in the affairs of member states. Probably because China doesn't want anyone meddling with their own repressive government. This is a major challenge for Obama/Clinton. I have no doubt their plan is to isolate NK diplomatically, but the success of that will depend on swaying China with behind the scenes negotiations that we will hear nothing about. My prediction is another watered down security council resolution because China will not fully be on board. Talks will be scheduled, KJI will be good for a while. Then when he feels he needs to be relevant again, he will rattle the saber again and we will repeat the cycle.
Posted by: Herbie H. | May 25, 2009 7:23 PM
Really interested to read all these people who seem to be challenging President Obama "to do something" Please tell me...what do you suggest....send in the marines, maybe a couple of carrier battle groups. I'm sure that would help. Of course George Bush would have done something more than talk. What stupidity that would be.
Posted by: John Napier | May 25, 2009 8:14 PM
Check these out;
http://www.break.com/index/nuketest.html
https://videosift.com/video/Largest-underground-nuclear-test-in-US-history
Some interesting fallout maps.
http://www.260press.com/nuclear-fallout-maps.htm
Posted by: C.Morris | May 25, 2009 8:58 PM
After 3 years again you have made this test. The results should be good.
Posted by: Tom | May 25, 2009 9:16 PM
Just to be clear, we attacked NK in ANY way, and Tokyo and Seoul disappear in a barrage of chemical and biological missles (maybe even nuclear) from the Koreans. 4-10 million dead, easy (including 40,000 US troops in the demilitarized zone).
Bill Clinton knew this quite well when he decided to give NK fuel oil and grain in 1994 to give up the bomb instead of attacking them. Problem is, Dem or Repub US admin, NK will use the bomb (or threat of it) to get what they want. Which is mainly free food and fuel oil to feed their starving country.
The single most frightening aspect of this entire situation is the following Obama admin quote...
Just two weeks ago, the administration's special envoy for disarmament talks with North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said during a visit to Asian capitals that "everyone is feeling relatively relaxed about where we are at this point in the process."
Posted by: Republican Hawk | May 25, 2009 9:44 PM
"I'd sure like to hear someone's rational idea of a solution to the North Korean situation that does not involve the negotiations that one president has pursued and now another is pursuing.
Posted by: Mark Silva | May 25, 2009 3:06 PM "
"Mark" (if that is you), I don't accept any of the premises of your question:
1. The North Korea missile testing should not be described using the euphemism "situation."
2. With North Korea I don't accept the premise that "negotiation" is a "rational idea". In fact, "negotiation" with North Korea has been, and will continue to be, a counterproductive waste of time and money that only encourages dictators.
3. I thus don't accept the premise that "negotiation" must be part of the "solution".
Posted by: Bruce | May 26, 2009 9:10 AM
Somehow all the talk of how Kim is a crackpot eccentric, while Obama is portrayed as fatherly, all-knowing, and wise doesn’t quite square with reality when the “crackpot” is running circles around our flawless messiah.
This is the same Obama that was apparently busy with his puppy-vetting process or playing basketball while the Russians where nabbing our Afghan supply air-base in Kyrgizstan.
Obama is endangering our national security, a failure of his most primary duty as president… maybe we should draw a line here?
Living in a celebrity-driven/liberal/MSM fantasy world is not a right of Obama supporters to cling-to indefinitely, as it’s both the voters and the press’ duty to make informed, good-faith decisions… not waste power making a hollow fashion statement instead.
It’s rapidly getting to the point where this kind of willfully-ignorant “thinking” is not just irresponsible, but dangerous. Obamania’s sheeple are deeply delusional, and as Obama’s enablers, these fools are going to get us killed.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Reaganite Republican Resistance | May 26, 2009 11:57 AM
Obama is preparing a major speech on North Korea where he declares none of this is his fault.
Posted by: Herbie H. | May 27, 2009 9:55 AM
hey
just send him a photo of Saddam Hussein at the end of his journey. Maybe he will get the picture. If that don't work then you can get the Bush"s (Father and Son) to try there luck.If that don't work tell him to meet obama in the ring, just the two of them. Watch obama say "Yes We Can and Yes I Will whip your ass".
Posted by: Troy | May 31, 2009 1:05 PM
We need to drop a Nuke on them and we need to drop it now. No more threatening them with things they already have lost. These people are ignorant. They were built for no remorse, they don't care if there isolated. If we don't nuke them, billions of peoples lives are at stake. When will people open up there eyes and realize there not bluffing, this needs to be handled now. Even though im positive there nukes wont hit the US itself, im still worried about all the other countries there neighbors with out there. If they are going to threaten us with Nukes now, how about the future when they do have enough launching mileage to hit the middle of the US or perhaps east or west coast of the US.
Posted by: Brianna | June 3, 2009 12:30 AM