Chinese leaders, stung by accusations that they haven't done enough to rein in North Korea, call for an international summit, but U.S. and South Korea remain noncommittal.
Dai Bingguo, China's state councilor, left, speaks with Lee Myung Bak, South Korea's president, during their meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. (Yonhap News via Bloomberg)
China called Sunday for an emergency international meeting to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, but the United States and South Korea, engaged in large-scale war games nearby, appeared initially cool to the idea.
The proposal followed a rare burst of shuttle diplomacy by the Chinese, who have been stung by accusations that they have failed to rein in their North Korean ally.
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, the highest-ranking foreign policy official, flew to Seoul over the weekend to meet with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, while Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and to the foreign ministers of Russia and Japan. The U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Jon Huntsman, was spotted Sunday afternoon leaving the Foreign Ministry building in Beijing. A North Korean official, Choe Tae Bak, has been called to Beijing on Tuesday for meetings.
Despite the diplomacy, the scene off the west coast of the Korean peninsula on Sunday was about the show of force. Joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises are to take place over four days, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington.
North Korea kept nerves on edge with its own artillery practice on Sunday near Yeonpyeong Island, where four South Koreans were killed last week by North Korean shelling.
Read more at The Los Angeles Times
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