Mark Ndesandjo, US President Barack Obama's half-brother, during interview at hotel in Beijing, China, 18 Nov 2009U.S. President Barack Obama says he took five minutes out of his busyoverseas diplomatic schedule to meet a half-brother who lives in China.

Mr.Obama told a U.S. television network that he met Mark Ndesandjoand his wife briefly Monday in Beijing, where the U.S. president heldmeetings with Chinese leaders this week.

The president has thesame Kenyan father as Ndesandjo, who recently published a book, Nairobito Shenzhen, describing Barack Obama Sr. as abusive.

PresidentObama said he does not know his half-brother very well. He said it wasnot a secret that his father was a troubled person, noting that hewrote about his father's alcoholism in his own book, Dreams of MyFather.

Obama Sr. married Ndesandjo's mother after divorcing Mr.Obama's American mother when the president was a child. Obama Sr. diedin 1982.

President Obama said his time with his father was asad part of his history and his background, but he does not spend a lotof time "brooding over it."

Ndesandjo traveled from his home inthe southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to meet his half-brother. Thelast time they were together was at the president's inauguration inWashington last January.