U.S. President Barack Obama called North Korea a "big worry for all of us," saying the communist regime is "hell-bent" on developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles capable of delivering them.
Obama made the remark during press availability in Japan on Thursday, saying the communist nation learns something every time they conduct nuclear and missile tests, even though the regime has not yet reached a point where they can "effectively hit" the U.S.
"North Korea is a big worry for all of us. They're not at the point right now where they can effectively hit U.S. targets, but each time that they test, even if those tests fail, they learn something," Obama said, according to a White House transcript.
"And it is clear that ideologically they are still convinced that, and (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un in particular seems to be convinced that his own legitimacy is tied up with developing nuclear weapons," he said.
Asked whether he agrees with Secretary of State John Kerry's characterization of the North as the "lead threat globally," Obama said that the North does not necessarily "poses the most immediate risk," adding that the Islamic State militant group is also a concern. "Rifles and crude bombs can kill a lot of people in a Paris or a Brussels," he said.
"Over the long term, when you have such an unstable regime that is so isolated, that generally flouts international norms and rules more than perhaps any other nation on Earth, that is also devoting enormous national resources hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons that they can fire long distances, that poses the kind of medium-term threat that we have to pay a lot of attention to," Obama said.
Obama also said that the U.S. has tried to increase international pressure on Pyongyang and there have been "improved responses from countries like China, countries in the region, like Vietnam and Burma taking these issues much more seriously."
"So that may reduce the risks of North Korea selling weapons or fissile material to other countries, or putting it out on the black market," he said. "But it does not, so far at least, solve the core problem of North Korea continuing to develop its program. And we're going to have to continue to work in a concerted way." (Yonhap)
