In South Korea Visit, Obama Visits Border and Warns North
By MARK LANDLER

PANMUNJOM, South Korea — President Obama warned North Korea on Sunday that its threats and provocations would only deepen its international isolation and jeopardize the resumption of American food aid, and he called on the North to scrap its plans to launch a satellite next month.

Squinting through binoculars from an observation post at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, Mr. Obama got a firsthand look at North Korea. The North, with a new leader in place, briefly tantalized the United States weeks ago by raising the possibility of ending the standoff over its nuclear program, only to resume its usual defiance with the recent satellite announcement.

“They need to understand that bad behavior will not be rewarded,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference with South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, who is playing host to a nuclear security summit meeting that will include Mr. Obama and 50 other world leaders.

Mr. Lee also demanded that North Korea “repeal” the decision to launch the satellite, which is to be mounted on a long-range missile. Both he and Mr. Obama said it would breach North Korea’s obligations, since missile launchings are barred by United Nations sanctions.

Despite international condemnation, North Korea appears determined to press ahead with the satellite launching next month. On Sunday, the South Korean military said that North Korea had moved the main body of its Unha-3 rocket to the new launching station at Dongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea.

Mr. Obama expressed frustration that China, as the main patron of the North Korean government, had not done more to curb the North’s provocative behavior. He said he would raise the issue of China’s influence in a meeting on Monday with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao.

“In the same way that North Korea needs to do something new if it wants to do right by its people,” Mr. Obama said, the Chinese must recognize that “the approach they’ve taken over the last several decades hasn’t led to a fundamental shift in North Korea’s behavior.”

The president made his comments on a day that brought home the intractable nature of the Korean conflict, as he tramped through guard posts and bunkers that date back six decades to the Korean War.

On the far side of the demilitarized zone, beyond the watchtowers and concertina wire that separate the North from the South, a giant red-and-blue North Korean flag billowed at half-staff, marking the 100th day since the death of Kim Jong-il, who led North Korea for 17 years.

It was Mr. Obama’s first visit to this heavily fortified border — Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan all made the trip — and it seemed both an echo of the cold war and a testament to the new dangers in an age of nuclear proliferation.

The agenda for the nuclear security summit meeting is ostensibly about preventing nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. But the motives and ambitions of countries like North Korea and Iran are likely to dominate the discussions.

North Korea’s talk of its satellite launching upended a fragile diplomatic opening to Kim Jong-il’s son and successor, Kim Jong-un. Analysts say North Korea appears to be reverting to a familiar cycle of provocations, perhaps as its untested leader tries to consolidate his power.

Mr. Obama declined to speculate about the younger Mr. Kim’s actions, saying, “It’s not clear exactly who’s calling the shots” in North Korea. Mr. Lee said he was disappointed because until the planned satellite launching, he expected Mr. Kim to take a path different from his father’s.

In a speech at a university in Seoul on Monday, Mr. Obama aimed his words at North Korea’s leaders, warning them that their provocations would lead only to “more broken dreams” and urging them to “have the courage to pursue peace and give a better life to the North Korean people.”

During his visit to the demilitarized zone, Mr. Obama paid tribute to the soldiers who have patrolled the border, saying they made it possible for South Korea to grow into a thriving democracy with a free-market economy despite the constant threat of war.

“You guys are at freedom’s frontier,” he told the American troops in a dining hall at Camp Bonifas, an outpost of the United Nations command that oversees the zone. “The contrast between South Korea and North Korea could not be clearer, could not be starker, both in terms of freedom but also in terms of prosperity.”

There was time for jokes, too. Mr. Obama thanked the soldiers for giving him a “spiffy jacket,” and he drew laughs when he talked about how upsets in the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament had made a hash of the brackets chosen by so many fans.

The president then greeted eight South Korean soldiers who keep watch at Observation Post Ouellette, one of the forward-most positions along the zone. As they waited for Mr. Obama to arrive, in a room with tightly drawn curtains and posters for target practice, the soldiers rehearsed their handshakes and barked greetings: “Very nice to meet you, sir.”

The pleasantries completed, Mr. Obama stepped into a chilly, windswept bunker ringed by sandbags and camouflage burlap and shielded by a wall of two-inch-thick bulletproof glass, where he was handed binoculars to survey the bleak North Korean countryside.

As a military escort pointed out landmarks, Mr. Obama could be heard asking where the demarcation line was between the North and South in different directions, as well as the size of the nearby North Korean village, where the giant flag was flying.

The timing of Mr. Obama’s visit was symbolic, coming a day before the second anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean Navy warship, the Cheonan. An international investigation concluded that the ship had been torpedoed by the North, a charge that the North Koreans deny.

Administration officials said the visit to the zone, where some of the 28,500 American soldiers stationed in South Korea serve alongside Korean troops, was a way to honor the loss of the Cheonan, which they said had brought South Korea and the United States closer together. Mr. Obama mentioned the Cheonan at the university on Monday.

After he had spent about an hour at the border, Mr. Obama’s helicopter headed back to Seoul, where he met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for discussions, mainly about Syria.

The two leaders conferred about a plan to provide aid, like medical supplies and communications equipment, to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, said Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.

歐巴馬訪停戰區 籲北韓勿發射火箭

第二屆53國核安全高峰會26日將於南韓首都首爾登場，提前一天抵達的美國總統歐巴馬，25日與南韓總統李明博舉行雙邊會談，歐巴馬在會後的記者會上再度要求北韓放棄火箭發射計畫，否則將遭到國際社會進一步孤立；歐巴馬並罕見地批評大陸未能促使其盟邦北韓開放核子計畫供國際檢查，並呼籲北京當局運用影響力，終止北韓多年來的「挑釁」與「惡劣行徑」。

2010年第一屆核安會議中，與會領袖誓言致力於確保核子原料的安全，以及防護其所管轄的核子原料與設施。預料第二屆全球核安峰會，將設法通過各項明確的行動計畫，以擴大第一屆峰會的動能，避免核武落入恐怖組織手中。

北韓核子及火箭計畫雖未列入正式議程，卻成為核安峰會開議前夕的關切焦點。中共新華社呼籲世界領袖勿在會中討論北韓核子計畫問題，以免離題。北韓之前警告，峰會討論北韓核子計畫，即是「宣戰」行動。

歐巴馬的北韓談話，加重外界對北韓新領袖金正恩執政、北韓權力鬥爭嚴重的揣測，也是白宮迄今對北韓最坦白的評估言論。歐巴馬說：「北韓的情勢並不安定。不清楚是誰在發號司令，他們的長期目標又是什麼？」

歐巴馬抵達南韓後，隨即前往南北韓停戰區的停戰村板門店慰問美軍。拿起望遠鏡，隔著防彈玻璃望向北韓一方的歐巴馬，感慨宛如進入「時光旅行」。這是歐巴馬第二次訪韓，但首次訪問停戰區。歐巴馬走訪停戰區的電視畫面，有助強化他三軍總司令的形象，拉抬總統大選選情。選戰對手一再指控歐巴馬對敵人不夠強硬。

25日適值北韓前領導人金正日去世100天，中央電視台直播中央追悼大會，宣告國殤期結束，未來將全力準備北韓創建人金日成4月百歲冥誕活動和宣布進入「強盛大國元年」，奠定金正恩領導體制。發射火箭為慶祝活動之一，北韓宣布發射火箭日期在4月12日至16日之間。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/world/asia/president-obama-visits-south-korea.html

Video: Obama Warns North Korea
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/03/25/multimedia/100000001451543/obama-to-china-pressure-north-korea.html

2012-03-26．聯合報．A14．國際．編譯王麗娟