<p><br /> Barack Obama saluted the bravery of US troops who defended South Korea during its war with North Korea while arriving in Seoul for the G20 summit.<br /> </p><p><br /> Speaking at an army garrison in South Korea, where the US keeps a presence of more than 28,000 troops, the president condemned the communist North for continuing on a course that he said deepened its isolation and the poverty of its people.<br /> </p><p><br /> The US President said North Korea knew the path to prosperity and suggested its leaders take it.<br /> </p><p><br /> Obama is in Seoul for meetings of the G20 group of economic nations. He had arrived hoping to seal an elusive trade deal with South Korea that could mean jobs and new markets for frustrated businesses and workers back home.<br /> </p><p><br /> He said the US "will never waver" in its commitment to South Korea's security and that North Korea's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons would only lead to more isolation and less security.<br /> </p><p><br /> He condemned North Korea and said its circumstances were not "an accident of history" but a direct result of the path it had chosen - "a path of confrontation and provocation" that he said included its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship.<br /> </p>
