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PARIS, June 6 -- Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he wanted to see an end to the stalemate in the Middle East peace process. "I do expect both sides (Israel and the Palestinians) to recognize that their fates are tied together," he told a press conference after meeting with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. "We have to move beyond the current stalemate ... Progress would mean the parties involved are in serious, constructive negotiations toward a two-state solution," Obama said in the Normandy city of Caen where he was to attend commemorations marking the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The U.S. president also urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran to accept international calls to end their disputed nuclear programs. Calling the DPRK's recent nuclear test and missile launches "provocative," Obama said: "We are going to take a very hard look at how we move forward on these issues." The DPRK conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25, which the official KCNA news agency claimed was "part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense." Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions that prevent the nation from nuclear and ballistic activities since its first nuclear test in 2006. Sarkozy, who met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, said France and the United States stood united in efforts to thwart Iran's controversial uranium enrichment. "Iran has the right to civilian nuclear power but not a military nuclear capability," he said Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in April invited Iran to discuss a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, but Tehran has so far rejected the offer. Insisting it is just seeking to build civilian nuclear power stations, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that Tehran would only discuss the issue with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. |
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