Lee, Obama warn of 'serious consequences' for N. Korean provocation

By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hinted
Tuesday at a possible shutdown of a lucrative industrial park in North Korea,
while his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama warned North Korea of "serious sanctions"
for its provocative and belligerent behavior.

Lee's warning came shortly after Pyongyang demanded in recent dialogue with Seoul
that South Korean businesses at the joint industrial complex in Kaesong raise the
salaries of their North Korean workers by nearly four times and pay hundreds of
millions of dollars in fees.
"We urge North Korea not to make any unacceptable demands because we really do
not know what will happen if they keep on this path," the South Korean head of
state said in a joint press conference with Obama shortly after their summit
talks at the White House.
Lee also said more than 40,000 North Korean workers currently working for South
Korean firms there will lose jobs if the complex is closed.
The dramatic change of position on Kaesong by Lee, who earlier said the
reconciliatory project must be kept alive despite the nuclear standoff,
apparently comes as he and Obama agreed to break what they called a pattern of
their making concessions following North Korean threats and provocations.
"I want to emphasize something President Lee said, that there has been a pattern
in the past where North Korea behaves in a belligerent fashion and, if it waits
long enough, it is rewarded," Obama told the joint press conference.
"I think that is the pattern they have come to expect. The message we are sending
them is that we are going to break that pattern," he added.
The Lee-Obama summit came amid North Korea's threat to reinforce its nuclear
arsenal and start enriching uranium -- a move that prompted the ongoing nuclear
standoff in the first place -- in a clear defiance of a U.N. Security Council
resolution that condemned its May 25 nuclear test.
The communist state has also said it will not come to the negotiating table
unless Washington first recognizes it as a nuclear state.
Obama made it clear his country will not make any concessions.
"North Korea also has a track record of proliferation that makes it unacceptable
for them to be a nuclear power," he told the press conference.
Shortly after the North's nuclear detonation test last month, the second of its
kind since 2006, the U.S. said it was considering putting North Korea back on its
list of terrorism-sponsoring states. North Korea was taken off the list for first
time last year under a denuclearization-for-aid deal.
Lee and Obama said a peaceful coexistence is still an option for the North, but
that it can only be obtained through peaceful negotiations.
"I want to be clear that there is another path available for North Korea. A path
that will lead to peace and prosperity," Obama said.
"But in order to take that path, North Korea has to make a decision and
understand that prestige and security and prosperity are not going to come
through the path of threatening neighbors and engaging in violations of
international law," he said.
The U.S. president added that the world will begin "serious enforcement" of
sanctions already placed on the North by U.N. Security Council resolutions if
Pyongyang continues to be provocative and belligerent.
Following their talks, Lee and Obama said they have agreed to significantly boost
their countries' relationship, and the South Korean president noted that a firm
alliance between the two will make North Korea think twice before taking steps it
might regret.
In a joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the leaders said the
countries will turn their alliance, formed under a mutual defense treaty signed
in 1953, into a "comprehensive, strategic relationship" built not only on
bilateral or security issues, but also on social, economic and political issues
at regional as well as global levels.
"Through our Alliance we aim to build a better future for all people on the
Korean Peninsula, establishing a durable peace on the Peninsula and leading to
peaceful reunification on the principles of free democracy and a market economy,"
said the statement, titled "Joint Vision for the Alliance" of South Korea and the
United States.
Tuesday's meeting also focused on economic cooperation as Seoul and Washington
try to move forward with ratification of a free trade agreement sealed nearly two
years ago.
Obama said the countries will work to find solutions acceptable to both the U.S.
and South Korea.
"What I have done was to affirm to President Lee that we want to work with Korea
to resolve the issues that are preventing free trade. I want to make sure that we
have an agreement that I feel confident that it is good for the American,
President Lee feels confident that it is good for the Koreans," he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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