South Korea Reaffirm Alliance Amid China Slowdown, North Korea Nuclear Threats

Park said Thursday that TPP, the principal economic pillar of Obama's Asian "rebalance" to counteract China's rise, would benefit businesses in both South Korea and the United States if her country were to join.

President Park Geun-hye (PAHK GOON HEH) was speaking ahead of a White House meeting Friday with President Barack Obama. After her meeting with Obama, Park said she wants better relations with China, especially when it comes to dealing with North Korea. "I think that that will be an opportunity for me to have a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe", Park also said.　Immediately after Park's comments became known, Abe made clear that he is willing to have a summit with Park during the trilateral summit that will be held in Seoul at the beginning of next month.

The issue of sex slaves has gained urgency as the victims are dying off. In 2007, more than 120 South Korean victims were alive, but the number has since dropped to 47, with their average age standing at almost 90.

Park and Obama agreed to maintain and deepen the U.S.-South Korea alliance, reaffirming several important bilateral developments on that front over the past year.

"The recent summit meetings between Korea and China, the U.S. and China, and now Korea and the USA have served to build consensus regarding North Korea and its nuclear programme, and we believe that this will play a positive role in ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and throughout Northeast Asia", she said.

Joint efforts, alongside China, to urge North Korea to return to long-stalled six-party talks will be taken, the leaders said.

THAAD systems don't provide total coverage, though, and was created to intercept short and medium-range ballistic missiles during the "terminal" stage of their flight path. While a threat from North Korea would be countered, certain ballistic missiles from China, including medium-range missiles, would get past the system:The Heritage FoundationCurrently the Pentagon has deployed a THAAD battery to Guam in order to deter North Korean provocations and further defend the Pacific region.

Park did not address the issue of Chinese behavior at the news conference. The administration has been preoccupied with forging a nuclear deal with Iran and security crises across the Middle East.

The North later backtracked from its commitment and conducted nuclear tests. But she said the door should be left open for negotiations.

But it remains to be seen if Park can translate ever-closer relations with China into vital backing from Pyongyang's biggest benefactor, or overcome skepticism in Washington about whether the initiative can work.

Still, ties with the USA remain strong.

Park has labored to heat ties with China and raised a few eyebrows in Washington when she attended Beijing's army parade to mark the top of World War Two final month.

The joint statement issued by the allies underscored "our commitment to our common goal, shared by the global community, to achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea in a peaceful manner".