Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-Bak present united front on North Korea

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up his Asian tour with a whirlwind stop in South Korea, where he was welcomed by a jubilant population - South Koreans presented Obama with an honorary black belt and a Tae Kwon Do uniform in addition to providing standard diplomatic fanfare. The welcome stood in sharp contrast with Obama's visit to China, where he had faced difficult, if constructive, talks on trade issues the day before. According to the BBC, President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak were in agreement on how to approach North Korea's nuclear program. Obama said

The thing I want to emphasise is that President Lee and I both agree that we want to break the pattern that existed in the past, in which North Korea behaves in a provocative fashion, and then is willing to return to talk [...] and then that leads to seeking further concessions [...] I hope that by accepting our proposal, the North will secure safety for itself, improve the quality of life for its people and open the path to a new future.

North Korea has antagonized regional and international powers in the past year, with a botched missile launch in April 2009 and a nuclear test the following month. In August it detained and later released two U.S. journalists it claims illegally crossed its border with China. North Korea currently lacks a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, however, and while it claimed to have put a satellite into orbit in May, 2009 using its Taepodong-2 missile, most foreign intelligence agencies agree that the launch was actually a failure. Regardless, the country remains under U.N. sanctions for its missile tests and a recent underground nuclear test.

In October, North Korea hinted to China that it might return to the negotiating table (for six-party talks including North Korea, South Korea, Russia, the United States, China and Japan) if it were allowed to conduct bilateral negotiations with the United States first.

U.S. diplomat Stephen Bosworth is set to visit North Korea on December 8th.

While it is undoubtedly important that South Korea stands with the United States on the North Korean issue, the most valuable partner in the negotiations is certainly China, which probably has the closest relationship with the isolated (eccentric?) nation of any country in the world - China was primarily responsible for saving North Korea from defeat during the Korean War in the early 1950s, and continues to donate large quantities of food to help support the North Korean population. Just this week, Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to cooperate on North Korea's nuclear program, but it remains to be seen whether or not that promise will bear any fruit.

Still, the South Korea visit served as a "spectacular" cap to the U.S. President's first Asian visits. After thanking his hosts for their warm welcome, Obama reportedly told them he was looking forward to a South Korean barbeque lunch.