Obama vows to pursue nuclear cuts with Russia

By The Nation an (Agency Reporter)

 

South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak (L) greets Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili as he arrives for the welcoming ceremony for the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit on Monday. Photo: Getty Images

United States President, Barack Obama vowed on Monday to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, saying America has more warheads than necessary, and issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear standoffs with the West.

Speaking ahead of a global nuclear security summit in Seoul, Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the U.S. arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism.

"We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need," Reuters quoted Obama as telling students at South Korea's Hankuk University.

He pledged a new arms-control push with incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin when they meet in May. But any further reductions would face stiff election-year opposition from Republicans in Congress who already accuse him of weakening America's nuclear deterrent.

Obama laid out his latest strategy against the backdrop of continued nuclear defiance from North Korea and Iran, twin challenges that have clouded his overall nuclear agenda and the summit in Seoul.

He set expectations high in a 2009 speech in Prague when he declared it was time to seek "a world without nuclear weapons". He acknowledged at the time it was a long-term goal, but his high-flown oratory helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize.