President Barack Obama says now is the time for North Korea to end its belligerence. He says the United States will take, in his words, "all necessary steps" to protect its people.

President Obama Delivers Statement On Fiscal Cliff (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama (Alex Wong, Getty Images)
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But Obama also says that no one wants to see a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea ratcheted up its threats against the U.S. after the U.N. Security Council levied new economic sanctions on the isolated nation. The penalties were in response to a February rocket launch.

Obama spoke alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (bahn kee-moon) after the two met in the Oval Office.

 

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