Obama arrives in South Korea

Panmunjom, South Korea-President Barack Obama has arrived in South Korea to crawl with the world leaders for the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit and for meetings that are expected to focus on North Korea and the nuclear programs of Iran.
But before he begins a busy schedule of talks over three days, Obama will visit the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that North and South Korea divided.


The DMZ has become a common stop for American presidents. President Obama will follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W.Bush. Clinton called the DMZ the "scariest place on earth" after inspection of the joint security area - manned by U.S. and South Korean troops - in 1992.
Obama's visit comes in the wake of North Korea announced that it was a rocket to launch a satellite into orbit next month to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Kim Il Sung, founding president of North Korea highlighting.
The announcement of the regime drew international condemnation. The Obama administration saw the action as a peculiar motion after a deal with Pyongyang last month for North Korea long-range missile tests and to suspend uranium enrichment and the United Nations nuclear inspectors into the country to admit. In turn, the United States promised to send 240,000 tons of food aid to North Korea.
The planned satellite launch - which the U.S. says that would violate UN sanctions against the regime - casts doubt on the deal and could scuttle hopes of restarting dormant talks between North Korea and the five members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
"They can choose to deepen their isolation and further strengthen the international sanctions that restrict them," said Daniel Russell, the National Security Council senior director for Asia, for the presidential visit. "That would be unfortunate, and we think that would be a mistake that will only worsen the problems that North Korea faces and suffering of the North Korean people."