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US Hosts North Korea Crisis Talks in Washington

   VOA News 06 December 2010
   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands with South
   Korean   Foreign  Minister  Kim  Sung-hwan  during  the  ASEAN  Summit
   Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, in Vietnam.

Photo: AP

   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands with South
   Korean  Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan at the ASEAN Summit in Vietnam,
   Oct. 30, 2010.

   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.