President
Barack Obama said Donald Trump's suggestion that Japan and South Korea
should consider obtaining nuclear weapons demonstrates the Republican
presidential front-runner's lack of understanding about foreign policy
and the world at large.
"The
person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or
nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally," Obama
said at a news conference at the close of the Nuclear Security Summit.
Obama
described the U.S. nuclear umbrella for Japan and South Korea, in place
of their own arsenals, as "one of the cornerstones of our presence in
the Asia Pacific," which has provided the U.S. peace, prosperity and
flowing commerce.
"It has
prevented the possibilities of a nuclear escalation and conflict," he
added. "You don't mess with that. It's an investment that rests on the
sacrifices that our men and women made" in World War II.
He concluded, "We don't want someone in the Oval Office who doesn't recognize how important that is."
The
summit came as the Republican front-runner to replace Obama in the
White House made several controversial nuclear proposals this week.
Trump
said that nuclear proliferation is the world's biggest challenge, but
also suggested at a CNN town hall on Tuesday that it may be time for
Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear arsenals so the U.S.
can pull back from Asia.
Japanese
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida squelched the idea of his country
developing its own nuclear weapons, saying, "It is impossible that Japan
will arm itself with nuclear weapons."
The
island nation is the only country to experience a nuclear attack, when
the U.S. ended World War II by dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
and has been committed to a non-nuclear defense posture since then.
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Trump
has also suggested redrawing U.S. security relationships in other
regions, arguing that Germany and Saudi Arabia need to do more in their
own defense or pay the U.S. more for the protection it offers.
And he's proposed using nuclear weapons to put a swift and definitive end to the threat of ISIS.
"I would never take any of my cards off the table," Trump told MSNBC.
U.S. affirms Japan security backing after Trump nuclear comments
The
summit, the final of four Obama has held during his presidency, drew
leaders from around the world to discuss ways to prevent the use of
nuclear weapons and better secure nuclear materials, especially from the
threat of nuclear terrorism.
Obama
said global efforts to improve nuclear security have removed from
circulation material that is equivalent to 150 nuclear weapons,
safeguarding it from extremists.
"That's material that will never fall into the hands of terrorists," Obama said.
Non-proliferation
efforts mean the entire continent of South America is free of nuclear
materials. If Poland and Indonesia meet commitments this year, Central
Europe and Southeast Asia will follow suit, he said.
"As
terrorists and criminal gangs and arms merchants look around for deadly
ingredients for a nuclear device, vast regions of the world are now
off-limits, and that's a remarkable achievement," he said, admitting
that much work remains.
Opinion: Nuclear terrorist threat bigger than you think
Obama
said that while leader-level summits are ending, the delegates have
agreed to create a new nuclear security contact group of more than 30
countries to institutionalize their work and build on their
achievements.
Obama said he realized that "our vision will not happen quickly, perhaps not in my lifetime, but we have begun."
He noted that nuclear stockpiles are the lowest they've been in six decades. "I'm extremely proud of our record," he said.
The
summit focused particular attention to ISIS, devoting a special session
to the group, which has demonstrated an interest in nuclear materials,
Obama said. After the Paris attacks in November, investigators found
hours of footage tracking the movements of a Belgian nuclear official.
Obama said earlier Friday that it was
likely that as the anti-ISIS coalition continued to make gains against
the terrorist group, the organization would try to conduct more attacks
outside the Middle East.
"As ISIL
is squeezed in Syria and Iraq, we can anticipate it lashing out
elsewhere, as we've seen most recently and tragically in countries from
Turkey to Brussels," Obama said Friday, using another acronym for ISIS.
At the opening of the nuclear
conference's Friday session, Obama said the summit's work -- mostly done
quietly behind the scenes in the months between high profile gatherings
-- served the crucial purpose of reducing the chances that nuclear
materials could be stolen.
"The
single most effective defense against nuclear terrorism is fully
securing this material so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands in the
first place," Obama said.
Obama's vision of a nuke-free world is tested by ISIS, Russia
He
called on the attending countries -- more than 50 -- to improve
intelligence sharing and do more to cut off the flow of foreign fighters
going to Syria and Iraq.
"The
sense of urgency that we've shown in destroying ISIL in Iraq and Syria
also has to infuse our efforts to prevent attacks around the world,"
Obama said. "We simply cannot afford to have critical intelligence not
being shared as needed, whether between governments or within
governments."
The summit meeting offered an opportunity to "explore ways to step up those efforts," Obama said.
Over
the four meetings that have taken place since 2010, the nations
involved have made 260 commitments to improve nuclear security and
implemented three-quarters of them, the president said.
Nuclear
non-proliferation has been a focus for the President since his days as a
junior senator from Chicago. He co-wrote legislation on nuclear
controls and travelled to inspect safety measures at nuclear sites in
Eastern Europe and Russia while in the Senate.
Much
of the nuclear summit's work has focused on reducing countries' levels
of highly enriched uranium or improving training for handling nuclear
materials.
Critics have said that
the efforts fall short because discussions haven't focused on military
stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or civilian plutonium, seen by
resource-poor countries as a potential source of energy.
And
they point to Russia's decision not to send high-level representation
as a setback, given that the U.S. and Russia between them control the
vast majority of nuclear materials.
But
Obama claimed progress Friday, announcing that 102 nations have
ratified what he called "a key treaty," a Convention on the Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material which will enter into force in coming
weeks.
That, Obama said, gives
"us more tools that we need to work together in the event of theft of
nuclear material or an attack on a nuclear facility."
Leaders
wrapped up the meeting with a communique that pledged to use the
foundation built during the four summits to guide future work.
"Sustaining
security improvements requires constant vigilance at all levels, and we
pledge that our countries will continue to make nuclear security an
enduring priority," the statement said.
Bernie Sanders' interview with the New York Daily News ahead of the state's primary later this month didn't go as planned. 
