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Summary
US President Barrack Obama ended his Asian tour and left for home on Thursday after meeting US troops stationed in South Korea.President Obama visited Japan before attending an Asia Pacific economic summit in Singapore, and continuing his first Asian tour to China and South Korea. Obama spoke to some of the 28,000 US troops stationed in the South before flying home at Osan Airbase, south of Seoul. An auditorium filled with young US soldiers greeted Obama enthusiastically as he walked in. Obama reaffirmed the US will keep a strong alliance with South Korea. I made it clear. America's commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea will never waiver and our alliance has never been stronger, Obama said.He hugged some of the soldiers and shook hands with several others.This was the end of his Asian tour, before he boarded Air Force One and headed back to Washington D.C. North Korea argues that the presence of a large US troops contingent in South Korea threatens them of possible attacks, and thus pushed them to develop nuclear weapons.North and South Korea are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty.North Korea rattled the economically powerful region just ahead of Obama's first visit to Seoul since taking office by sparking a naval fight with the South and telling the world early this month it had produced a fresh batch of arms-grade plutonium.But it has toned down its normally strident anti-U.S rhetoric since Obama began his trip to Asia a week ago.Obama said on Thursday he was willing to help North Korea repair its economy and end decades of international isolation if Pyongyang stopped a cycle of threats and finally moved towards nuclear disarmament.Speaking to reporters at the end a week-long Asia tour, Obama said he and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed the North must end the pattern of provocations that simply ended up with demands for more concessions but never resolved the central problem.
