Obama says U.S. commitment to S. Korea will never waver

(ATTN: UPDATES with quotes throughout)
By Tony Chang
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama
pledged Thursday that America's commitment to peace and stability in South Korea
"will never waver," lauding his country's armed forces for contributing to the
South's ascent to a global leadership position.

"America's commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea will never waver
and our alliance has never been stronger," Obama said while addressing some 1,500
U.S. military servicemembers in South Korea who gathered in Osan, 55 kilometers
south of Seoul. The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
The U.S. has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North
Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather than a
peace treaty.
The U.S. president arrived here Wednesday as part of a four-nation Asia tour that
also took him to Singapore for the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, while in South Korea last month, also
pledged to mobilize his country's warfighting assets to their maximum capacity,
if needed, to defend South Korea against North Korea, which continues to develop
its nuclear and missile capabilities.
Earlier in the day, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Obama held a summit
and urged North Korea to immediately return to negotiations aimed at
denuclearizing the communist country, vowing joint efforts to fully denuclearize
the North under a package deal.
Obama said that he was told by Lee that the American people should understand how
"grateful" South Koreans are for U.S. deterrence against the North Korean
threats.
"I hope the American people understand how grateful we are for what you've done.
Because we would not be the extraordinarily strong, prosperous nation that we are
had it not been for the sacrifices of your armed services," Obama quoted Lee as
saying during the summit earlier in the day.
"Allowing families to live in peace... is a direct result of the work that you
do," Obama said. To see the results of America's commitment to South Korea, Obama
told the gathered troops to "look around."
"You see the result of your service... you only have to look around," Obama said,
describing the alliance between Washington as being "rooted in shared sacrifice,
common values, mutual interest and mutual respect."
odissy@yna.co.kr
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