The U.S. and its allies possibly will impose further sanctions on Iran and offer monetary aid to North Korea in an effort to halt their contested nuclear programs, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
President Barack Obama speaks while South Korean President Lee Myung-bak looks on. Obama discussed strategies to cease Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.
His notification came when Iran rejected a compromise proposal earlier this week to dispatch its low-enriched uranium abroad so that it could not be further enriched to make weapons. Speech of new sanctions showed that the U.S. president is preparing for the next chapter should Iran fail to meet his year-end deadline for progress in negotiations.
"They have been unable to get to 'yes,' and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said at a news talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Obama and Lee showed unity on disarming nuclear-armed North Korea and differences over concluding a free-trade agreement mired by Congress. Obama announced that Stephen Bosworth, his special envoy to North Korea, would make his first trip to Pyongyang in early December to test the waters for resuming nuclear disarmament talks.
Lee said Obama approved his "grand bargain" for North Korea — a package of economic assistance and investment in exchange for full nuclear disarmament in a single step rather than the piece meal approaches that have twice unsuccessful over the past two decades.
"I think President Lee is exactly right and my administration is taking the same approach," Obama said.
U.S. looks to strengthen alliances
Obama wrapped an eight-day, four-nation tour of Asia in which international issues, counting climate change, and economic recovery, dominated and goodwill abounded.
The White House said the visit was largely about showing U.S. re-engagement with a region whose fast-growing economies are reordering international politics but that often felt neglected during the Bush administration and its focus on fighting terrorism.
To that aim, Obama spoke often of reinvigorating alliances with Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, while welcoming thriving China as a partner.
In talking tough about viable sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, Obama said he anticipated that "over the next several weeks we will be developing a package of latent steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran."
Probable sanctions are likely to take months to enact, if the difficulties in crafting this year's UN sanctions on North Korea are any indication. China, permanently reluctant to support sanctions, offered no public assurances that it would agree to punish Iran. So for Russia, whose support also would be essential, White House official Mike McFaul said days ago that the U.S. is "exactly on the same page with the Russians" in exploring diplomacy and penalties.
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