Pat Dollard

Tweet

PRAGUE (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in a speech on Sunday that will be overshadowed by North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket over Japan.

Visiting Prague during a trip that marks his presidential debut on the world stage, Obama will commit himself to reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal, bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force and seeking tough penalties for nuclear proliferators, the White House said.

Aides said Obama hoped that calling for a nuclear-free world would lend credibility to Washington’s efforts to resolve atomic disputes with countries like Iran and North Korea.

But Pyongyang’s action and the calling of an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting seemed certain to change the tone of what was planned as optimistic speech by Obama, who issued a statement calling the launch a “provocative act.”

North Korea’s defiance could shape up as Obama’s biggest foreign policy challenge since taking office on January 20, pledging to repair the image of the United States in the world after eight years under predecessor George W. Bush.

“President Obama committed to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy and reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal,” the White House said in a preview of Obama’s speech, which made no direct reference to North Korea’s rocket launch a short time earlier.

But adding a note of realism to the glowing plans Obama will paint, the White House said: “The president reaffirmed that as long as nuclear weapons exist, America will maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear capability to deter our adversaries and reassure our allies.”

While Obama reaffirms his already-announced plans to pursue a new deal with Russia to cut nuclear warheads, he will also vow to seek a new international treaty to end production of fissile materials for nuclear arms, the White House said.

It said he would offer to host a global summit on nuclear security — though no date was given — and will call for “real and immediate consequences” for countries that break non-proliferation rules.

In Prague, Obama also planned to discuss climate change and energy security with the leaders of the 27 European Union countries at a summit hosted by the Czech EU presidency, undermined by a government collapse last week.

Thousands of Czechs are expected to turn up for Obama’s speech in a square outside the medieval Prague Castle, with the panorama of the Czech capital in the background.

The call for renewed efforts at global nuclear disarmament was expected to be a message that would resonate in Europe, where memories of the devastation of World War Two stir strong anti-war sentiment.