The United States and South Korea began naval exercises on Sunday that were meant as a warning to North Korea for recent provocations, including the deadly artillery attack last week on an island populated by South Koreans in the Yellow Sea, according to The New York Times.
At the same time, China called for an emergency meeting of the six principal countries involved: itself, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States. Reacting to the growing sense of crisis in the region, China’s foreign ministry hastily called a press briefing Sunday afternoon, with Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei calling for “emergency consultations” to be held in early December in Beijing.
The call came as a senior Chinese diplomat returned home after an unscheduled visit to Seoul. The state counselor in charge of foreign affairs, Dai Bingguo, met President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea.
During the meeting, Mr. Lee pressed China to do more for peace in the region, according to a South Korean version of the events. The South Korean president’s office said in a statement that Mr. Lee also asked China to “maintain a more responsible and fair attitude in its policies involving the two Koreas,” an apparent prod to put more pressure on North Korea to stop its provocations.
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