PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, AND WASHINGTON — President Obama vowed Sunday to pursue the elimination of nuclear weapons from the planet, telling a cheering throng in Prague that the United States is ready to lead an international effort to reduce atomic arsenals and the threat they pose.
Speaking only hours after North Korea launched a multistage rocket, drawing new international concern and condemnation, Obama outlined a plan to work toward a goal that he acknowledged remains decades away.
"As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act," Obama told a crowd of more than 20,000 in Prague's historic Hradcany Square. "We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it."
His speech in Eastern Europe in front of the spires of a medieval castle came as Eastern Europeans mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism, ending the Cold War that for decades defined American relations with the world.
"The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War," Obama told the crowd. "Today, the Cold War has disappeared, but thousands of those weapons have not."
On his first tour of Europe as president, Obama then laid out a process to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ban nuclear testing, and secure loose fissile material from terrorists. Until weapons and the material to make them are fully secured, Obama said, the U.S. would maintain its nuclear arsenal to deter adversaries.
Noting the North Korean rocket launch, which many in the West fear was a test of the regime's ability to deliver a nuclear warhead, the president called for that country's leaders and Iran to join in halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
"North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons," Obama said. He added that his administration would engage diplomatically with Iran, another nation pursuing nuclear technology, based on "mutual interests and mutual respect."
"We will support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy with rigorous inspections. That's a path that the Islamic Republic can take," he said. "Or the government can choose increased isolation, international pressure, and a potential nuclear arms race in the region that will increase insecurity for all."
