S. Korea to go ahead with live-fire drill today
South Korea's military said it will hold live-fire exercises as planned Monday from a border island shelled by North Korea on Nov. 23, amid rising tensions following the North’s threats to strike back if the drills go ahead.
The U.N. Security Council convened an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, but is divided over whether to denounce North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island on the western sea border.
Britain, supported by the United States and France, proposed a draft statement to "deplore" North Korea's "attack" on Yeonpyeong Island that killed four people last month, the first attack on South Korean soil since the 1950-53 Korean War, a Western diplomat told reporters after a morning session in New York, according to Yonhap News.
"We will continue to discuss the draft statement in the afternoon session," the diplomat said, but added two other veto powers, China and Russia, oppose any statement denouncing North Korea. "There is a big gap between the sides," he said.
The meeting was held at the request of Russia, which called on South Korea to cancel plans for live-fire drills in the seas off Yeonpyeong Island and return to the six-party talks to discuss the rising tensions and North Korea's nuclear programs.
Despite North Korea's threats of retaliation, South Korea plans to hold live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island, near the disputed sea border in the Yellow Sea, Monday or Tuesday, depending on weather conditions in an apparent show of force against North Korea.
Earlier in the day, Russia circulated a draft statement calling on all parties concerned to "exercise maximum restraint" and urging U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send an envoy to Seoul and Pyongyang for a "resumption of dialogue and resolution of all problems dividing them exclusively through peaceful diplomatic means."
A South Korean diplomat said the meeting will not likely produce any agreement, noting the statement lacks any reference to North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong and the uranium enrichment program Pyongyang revealed last month. The program violates U.N. resolutions that ban the North from conducting nuclear activities.
"I don't expect any agreement," the diplomat said. "It will be difficult to narrow differences between the Western side, seeing North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island to kill civilians is the cause of the rising tensions, and the Chinese and Russian side, saying South Korea's plans for live-fire drills have heightened tensions."