US President Barack Obama met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak in Washington on Tuesday, reiterating American commitment to the defense of South Korea, one of the closest allies of the United States.

US President Barack Obama (R) and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak hold a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, capital of the United States, June 16, 2009. Obama met with Lee Myung-bak here on Tuesday, reiterating American commitment to the defense of South Korea, one of the closest allies of the United States. [Zhang Yan/Xinhua]

Speaking to reporters after the talks, Obama said that nuclear and missile programs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have constituted "a grave threat" to regional and international security.

"Given their past behavior, given the belligerent manner in which they are constantly threatening their neighbors, I don't think there's any question that that would be a destabilizing situation that would be a profound threat not only to United States' security but to world security," he said.

Obama urged the international community to "pursue a sustained and robust effort" to implement the latest United Nations resolution that imposed sanctions against the DPRK for its recent repetition of nuclear test and the launch of missiles.

US President Barack Obama (R) and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak hold a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, capital of the United States, June 16, 2009. [Zhang Yan/Xinhua]

"We will pursue denuclearization on the Korean peninsula vigorously," Obama said.

Standing at Obama's side in the White House Rose Garden, Lee said that during his talks with Obama, "We agreed that under no circumstance are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons."

Lee appreciated Obama's commitment to South Korea's security, saying that "This has given the South Korean people a greater sense of security."

The United States has deployed some 28,500 troops in South Korea while in its neighboring Japan it has more than 40,000 troops.

The South Korean top leader called for international effort to seek new measures to pressure the DPRK to "irrevocably dismantle all of their nuclear weapons programs."

During the US-South Korean summit meeting, Obama and Lee also exchanged views on further strengthening bilateral economic ties.

Lee said that South Korea and the United States have agreed to have working-level discussions to promote bilateral free-trade agreement.

In 2007, former US President George W. Bush and the late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun inked a free-trade agreement. Under the trade pact, nearly 95 percent of consumer and industrial products would be duty-free with three years, and most remaining tariffs would disappear with 10 years.

Currently, the two countries do about 101 billion US dollars worth of business with each other.

Despite the two-year-old free-trade deal, the two countries remain different over issues of reciprocity. "In Korea there are issues of beef imports. In the United States there are questions about whether there's sufficient reciprocity with respect to cars. These are all understandable, legitimate issues for negotiations," Obama said.

To overcome differences, South Korea and the United States have agreed to make joint efforts to chart a way forward on the agreement to slash tariffs on goods and services, Lee said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2009)