South Korea not scrapping drill despite threat

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101219/wl_nm/us_korea_north

South Korea not scrapping drill despite threat

By Kim Do-gyun Kim Do-gyun – 7 mins ago

YEONPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea said on Sunday bad weather was

delaying the start of a live-fire exercise that prompted North Korean threats of

war, adding that it had no plans to scrap the drills despite international calls

for restraint.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to convene an emergency session on Sunday

on the escalating tension between North and South Korea in the hope of issuing

some kind of statement to help ease the tension in the region.

North Korea has called the artillery fire drill by the South, on Yeonpyeong

island which was attacked last month, a suicidal war move that would trigger a

full-out conflict on the Korean peninsula and said it would strike back in

self-defense.

Analysts were skeptical the North would carry out the threat it issued on

Friday, which rattled financial markets, but it added to the already tense

situation in the peninsula which has been described as " extremely precarious "

and a " tinderbox " by U.S. and Chinese officials.

The North will likely respond by holding a live-fire drill on its side of the

tensely guarded sea border, if the South went ahead with its exercise, analysts

said.

Weather conditions worsened on the normally sleepy, idyllic island of fishermen,

forcing the military to push back a planned one-day live-fire drill past the

weekend. It had been scheduled for some time between December 18 and 21.

" There is no plan to cancel the exercise. The factor we're looking at is the

weather condition, " a Defense Ministry official said on the condition of

anonymity.

South Korean marines plan to test artillery firing from the island targeting its

territorial waters to its southwest, the same type of exercise that North Korea

last month called an attack and returned fire, killing four people.

U.S. troubleshooter Bill , the governor of New Mexico who is on a

private mission to Pyongyang, said he had made some progress in his discussions

with officials there.

He told CNN he did not get a firm answer on whether North Korea would physically

strike the South again, but added: " It's still very tense out there "

" They said there would be a response, but at the same time they hope a U.N.

Security Council resolution would tamp down the situation. It was very clear

they were very upset by the potential exercise, " told CNN from

Pyongyang.

China, the main backer of the isolated North Korea, again urged the rival Koreas

to open talks and avoid steps that could inflame tensions on the peninsula,

extending its effort to contain a confrontation on its doorstep.

" China resolutely opposes any actions that could inflame tensions and exacerbate

the situation, and asks that both sides of the peninsula exercise calm and

restraint and open up dialogue and contacts, " Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said

on Sunday.

Yang spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov but did not blame either the

North or the South directly, maintaining China's policy of avoiding becoming

embroiled in the bitter rift between its neighbors.

Russia also said the two Koreas must begin dialogue to try to resolve all issues

of dispute. Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said the Security

Council will meet on Sunday in the hope of delivering a message to the two rival

states.

" We are seriously concerned about possible further escalation of tensions on the

Korean peninsula, " Vitaly Churkin said, adding that the situation there

" directly affects the national security interests of the Russian Federation, " he

told reporters at the Russian U.N. mission in New York.

The State Department said last week that South Korea had every right to conduct

the exercises, but indicated that it, too, was worried.

" We trust that South Korea will be very cautious in terms of what it does, but

that said, let's put the responsibility squarely where it lies, " a State

Department spokesman said.

North Korea continued with blistering assault on the South and the United States

on Saturday, blaming Seoul for conspiring with Washington to bring hostility

against a neighbor.

The North's foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement: " We will be sure to

settle scores with the U.S. for the extreme situation on the Korean peninsula. "

He added: " Our military does not speak empty words. "

(Additional reporting by Buckley in Beijing, Louis Charbonneau at the

United Nations; Writing by Jack Kim, editing by Miral Fahmy)