Obama taking a harder line on North Korea

President Obama said Saturday he plans to "take a very hard look" at the country's policy toward North Korea, saying the communist country's provocations shouldn't be rewarded.

"I don't think that there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we just react in the same ways by, after they've done these things for a while, then we reward them," Obama said in a news conference after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

He noted that after recent nuclear test and missile launches, China and Russia have been notably less supportive than they had been in the past.

He said he prefers to take a "diplomatic approach," but that goes only so far.

"Diplomacy has to involve the other side engaging in a serious way in trying to solve problems," Obama said.

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