Obama vows to work to tighten sanctions on North Korea

In the wake of another North Korean missile launch, President Obama vowed Tuesday to seek tighter United Nations’ sanctions against Pyongyang.

The launches on Monday occurred while Mr. Obama was attending a summit in China. He said they were “provocations” that would only lead to further isolation of the communist nation.

“We are going to work diligently together with the most recent U.N. sanctions,” Mr. Obama told reporters after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Laos. “President Park and I agreed that the entire international community needs to implement these sanctions fully and hold North Korea accountable. We are going to work together to make sure we’re closing loopholes and make them even more effective.”

Ms. Park said she sent North Korea a “stern warning that the continuation of such reckless provocations will lead North Korea down the path of self-destruction.”

“North Korea’s nuclear test earlier this year and continued missile launches are fundamentally threatening the security of both the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia,” she said. ” I would like to make it clear that Korea and the U.S. will respond resolutely to any provocations by North Korea by utilizing all means.

North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast. The launch was widely viewed as a show of force timed to get the attention of world leaders visiting the region for a series of summits.

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Mr. Obama is now attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. He’s the first sitting president to visit the country that the U.S. bombed heavily during the Vietnam War.

The president said if North Korea is willing to abide by its international obligations and denuclearize its program, “the opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there.”

“We do not have any interest in an offensive approach to North Korea,” Mr. Obama said.