President Park Geun Hye will meet with U.S. President
Barack Obama this afternoon in Seoul to discuss the North Korean nuclear threat amid signs the North is preparing for its fourth nuclear test.
Further items on the agenda are expected to include developing the U.S.-ROK alliance as well as strategic issues pertaining to the current situation
in Northeast Asia.
It is also believed Obama will convey the outcome of Washington’s decision to
“reconsider” the current plan to transfer wartime operational control
(OPCON) of South Korean troops to Seoul by 2015.
“North Korea has engaged
in provocative actions for the last several decades. It’s been an irresponsible
actor on the international stage for the last several decades,”
Obama told reporters after yesterday’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“Working with Japan,
working with the Republic of Korea and working with China … we can continue
to apply more and more pressure on North Korea so that at some junction, they
end up taking a different course,” he added.
Meanwhile, a statement released by North Korea on the 21st deemed the official visit a “reactionary
and extremely dangerous act bringing the dark clouds of a nuclear arms race.”
