Obama condemns N.K. missile launch

by Christi Parsons

PRAGUE -- President Barack Obama, condemning North Korea's missile launch, today called for a strong international response to deter future advancement of its nuclear program.

"They, I think, have taken a provocative action,'' Obama said before heading into a scheduled meeting with the president of the European Union in Prague. "It creates instability in their region, around the world.''

The president also addressed the launch in a public forum, a planned speech on nuclear power before an audience of 20,000 in Prague, the one major public address of his weeklong tour across Europe.

"North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long range missiles," Obama said in his speech. ""Words must mean something . . . The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons."

States harboring nuclear ambitions need to know that the path to world respect will not come through proliferation, but rather through talks based on "mutual interest and mutual respect,'' Obama told his audience.

This response to this weekend's missile launch came during an already scheduled address on nuclear arms. Calling for "a world without weapons," Obama committed to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in American national security strategy as well as the size of his nation's nuclear arsenal.

Obama, who plans to travel to Moscow this summer, promised to negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia by the end of the year and pledged to bring into force the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. He also said he would try to negotiate a new international treaty ending the production of the materials critical for nuclear weapons production.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs awakened the president with news of the North Korean missile launch before daylight in Prague, and Obama then spent the morning talking with military advisors.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice began reaching out to their counterparts, looking ahead to this afternoon's meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

White House officials would not speculate publicly about how quickly they would advise the Security Council to take action or on what action they would recommend.

The launch had been expected for weeks, after North Korean officials announced they would launch a rocket sometime around this weekend in order to put a satellite into orbit.

But the U.S. and governments in the region suspect the launch was a cover for testing a long-range missile for North Korea, which has nuclear weapons. Leaders in the U.S., South Korea and Japan had warned Pyongyang not to go forward with the rocket launch.

They believe that the test could be the first step toward putting a nuclear warhead on a missile with the ability to reach Alaska or a more distant target.

Because the notice from Pyongyang came in advance of the president's announced plans to speak on nuclear proliferation this morning, Obama policy advisors said they did not read the timing of the launch as a particular message.

But Obama said that he thinks it is a clear violation of the resolutions of the U.N. Security Counncil. North Korea, the president said, faces a decision much like Iran's, as the U.S. and allies attempt to stem nuclear weapons for both.

"If they want to take an appropriate path to rejoin the international community and break out of their isolation, that's available to them,'' Obama said of North Korea, in his remarks before meeting with the E.U. leader.

"That's not the path they're taking right now,'' he said, "And we intend to work with the international community to deliver a strong message.''

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