Obama confers with Park about North Korea on sidelines of APEC

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama met Tuesday with South Korea's President Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.

The two leaders discussed North Korea's nuclear ambitions and pledged to work together in their de-nuclearization efforts, said South Korean senior presidential foreign affairs secretary Ju Chul-ki.

Their meeting comes days after North Korea released detained Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller.

Obama arrived in Beijing on Monday for the annual APEC summit to boost both economic and security cooperation with Asia-Pacific member states.