S. Korea seeks tough line on N. Korea

SEOUL, June 13 (UPI) -- South Korea's president says countries opposed to North Korea's nuclear program need to take a tougher, more effective, approach.

Lee Myung-bak, whose nickname is "The Bulldozer," said he plans to discuss new ways forward in Tuesday's summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

"I fully support President Obama's call to have a world without nuclear weapons," Lee said. "But in the meantime we are faced with North Korea trying to become a nuclear power and this really is a question we must deal with now."

Six-way talks, which began in 2003 between North Korea and China, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan, gave North Korea time to pursue a secret nuclear agenda, he said.

"I think it's important now, at this critical point in time, for us not to repeat any past mistakes," he told the Journal.

North Korea Saturday announced it would start weaponizing all new plutonium and had already weaponized more than one third of its spent plutonium rods, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.