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President Park Geun-hye warned Saturday that the international community might not be able to do anything to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons program if its efforts to get Pyongyang to denuclearize end in failure.
North Korea is under the toughest U.N. sanctions ever over its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.
Still, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called his country a "responsible nuclear state" in the clearest sign yet that he won't end its nuclear program.
The North has repeatedly pledged to boost its nuclear capability, viewing its nuclear program as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy toward it.
"The international community should get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program by urging it to embrace changes," Park said in a meeting with representatives from the Korean community in Uganda.
The international community could face "a situation, in which it won't be able to do anything about North Korea's nuclear program ... if this opportunity passes by," Park said, referring to international calls for North Korea's denuclearization.
Park made the comments a day before she is set to hold talks with her Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, the third such meeting between the two leaders.
It marks the first time that a South Korean president has visited Uganda since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1963.
Park is seeking Uganda's cooperation and support for international pressure on North Korea, Kim Kyou-hyun, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, told reporters.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss how to boost ties, especially in economic cooperation, said Kim.
Also Saturday, Park told the Korean representatives that South Korea will continue to help Uganda's economic development through Seoul's "Saemaeul Movement," or new community movement that is credited with helping modernize the rural South Korean economy decades ago.
South Korea -- which has transformed from a key recipient of U.N. aid after the 1950-53 Korean War to a donor country in half a century -- has been sharing its "Saemaeul Movement" experience with developing nations.
Park also said South Korea will reach out to Ugandans through its aid program, called "Korea Aid."
The aid program will deploy 10 vehicles, including ambulances, to provide mobile health care and nutritional support to local people, who have a difficult time reaching medical facilities. The effort will also allow locals to experience South Korean culture.
Earlier in the day, Park attended the ceremony to kick off the program at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia that drew hundreds of people, including Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome.
Park met with a 28-year-old pregnant Ethiopian woman, who received an ultrasound scan in a mobile medical vehicle.
Mulatu praised the mobile medical vehicle, saying it can be used to visit patients.
Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries and has a shortage of doctors. The African country had 0.3 doctor per 10,000 people on average between 2001 and 2013, compared with 13.8 for the world average, according to data provided by the United Nations.
Park is also set to launch the same aid program for Kenya, the third stop on her swing through Africa.
Also Saturday, Park took part in a South Korea-Ethiopia joint cultural performance at Addis Ababa University that featured the traditional Korean martial art of taekwondo and K-pop.
Park gave school bags and stationery to about 30 Ethiopian girls after the performance. The Ethiopian girls clapped their hands as they told Park in Korean, "We love you, Miss President." (Yonhap)
