WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama warned Chinese President Hu Jintao he may be forced to redeploy US forces in Asia, as he pressed for a stronger Chinese stance on North Korea, an official said on Friday.
Mr Obama told Mr Hu that North Korea's long-range missile work, nuclear programme and 'belligerent behaviour' had convinced Washington that Pyongyang was now a threat to the US mainland, as well as its allies in Asia, the official said.
North Korea was a key issue in Oval Office talks on Wednesday between Mr Hu and Mr Obama during the Chinese President's state visit, and American officials said the US warnings contributed to a sterner Chinese line on North Korea.
The New York Times reported earlier that the US warning was first made in a phone call between Mr Obama and Mr Hu last month and was repeated over a private dinner at the White House on Tuesday.
White House officials said the discussions between Mr Hu and Mr Obama contributed to North Korea's offer this week to resume a high-level military dialogue with South Korea to ease tensions, an offer Seoul has accepted.
The talks will be the first such contact between the Koreas since a deadly North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island in November. The strike lurched the peninsula seemingly to the brink of war. -- AFP
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