US Hosts North Korea Crisis Talks in Washington
U.S. President Barack Obama is asking China to send a "clear message" to North Korea, as Japanese and South Korean officials gather in Washington to discuss the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
The diplomatic activity comes as South Korea stages five days of live-fire artillery drills that Pyongyang has denounced as an effort to trigger a war. It was during a similar drill last month that North Korea launched an artillery barrage on a South Korean island, killing four people.
Mr. Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke by telephone as the exercise began Monday morning. A White House spokesman said Mr. Obama urged his counterpart to let Pyongyang know that "its provocations are unacceptable."
Chinese media say President Hu expressed his deep concern about the situation and called for a "cool and rational" response on all sides.
Later Monday, the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea are to meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss last month's artillery attack and North Korea's recent disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility.
The three countries have so far declined China's invitation to a wider meeting that would also include China, Russia and North Korea. They say that to sit down with Pyongyang at this point would reward it for bad behavior.
South Korea's artillery drills were scheduled as a response to the shelling on November 23 of Yeonpyeong Island, which killed four people and wounded 18. North Korea said it launched the barrage because the South was staging an exercise that involved firing into waters claimed by both sides.
South Korean officials declined to say specifically where Monday's drills were taking place. But previously, it warned vessels to stay away from 29 locations including Daechong, another island near the disputed sea border with North Korea. South Korean media said no shells had been fired near the border so far.
Pyongyang has denounced the exercise but has not specifically threatened retaliation. Seoul's new defense minister, retired General Kim Kwan-jin, has vowed a strong military response if the Pyongyang government launches another attack.
The Washington Post newspaper reports in its Monday edition that the United States is moving to strengthen its relationship with Japan and South Korea because of growing frustration with China. It says U.S. officials are reluctantly building what could become an anti-China bloc.
The newspaper says the Obama administration feels that China's failure to condemn North Korea as it develops nuclear weapons and attacks its southern neighbor has encouraged Pyongyang to believe it is free to act with impunity.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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