‘China promised not to stand by NK in case of additional provocations’

China has told South Korea that it will no longer take the side of its traditional ally North Korea if Pyongyang makes additional provocations after tensions spiked over the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year, President Lee Myung-bak was quoted Friday as saying.

Lee made the remark during a lunch meeting with members of the parliamentary defense committee Thursday, according to lawmakers who participated in the meeting. It was unclear when China delivered the position. Government officials declined to confirm the message from China.

China is the North's last-remaining major ally and has propped up the impoverished, provocative neighbor with food and energy assistance and diplomatic support. Beijing has long been criticized for trying to protect Pyongyang even when the regime makes grave provocations, such as last year's sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of a border island.

Lee told lawmakers Thursday that "China delivered its intentions (to South Korea) that it won't stand by the North if it makes an additional provocation," a lawmaker said on condition of anonymity.

Presidential officials declined to discuss the issue, citing diplomatic protocol.

The North's attacks last year sent the already frayed relations between the two Koreas plunging to their lowest levels in decades. Tensions have since persisted, clouding the prospects of resuming the long-stalled six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

Lee was also quoted as telling the lawmakers that he still feels indignant over the damage inflicted on South Korean people and soldiers in the November shelling of the border island of Yeonpyeong. Two civilians and two soldiers were killed in the attack that devastated a fishing village.

"I still cannot contain the feeling of outrageousness toward the North," Lee was quoted as saying.

Lee called for the parliamentary committee to endorse a series of defense reform bills this month, saying that if the envisioned reform had been implemented earlier, the South could have struck back at the North at the time of the artillery attack, according to participants. (Yonhap)