‘Brandishing weapons’ won’t solve Korean crisis

A split over North Korea deepened yesterday as China said to talk with the nuclear-armed regime was better than to “brandish weapons”, while the United States, South Korea and Japan planned new war games.

Later US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks on North Korea with Russian and Chinese officials ahead of meeting South Korean and Japanese officials next week.

“I’ve already spoken to high-ranking Chinese and Russian officials and we will discuss how we can work together to try to avoid conflict,” she said during a brief visit to Kyrgyzstan.

Mrs Clinton said she held the talks ahead of her meeting with the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan on Monday to discuss Pyongyang’s shelling of a South Korean island close to a disputed marine border on November 23.

“The US is very concerned about North Korea and we want to work with countries in the immediate region” she said, listing China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan.

China complained yesterday that it was being unfairly “criticised” for calling for dialogue to address the latest tensions on the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s artillery attack.

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have snubbed Beijing’s proposal for six-way crisis talks that would also include Moscow and Pyongyang – instead scheduling their own three-way foreign ministers’ talks in Washington next Monday.

Speaking to a crowd of students in Bishkek, Mrs Clinton said “North Korea poses an immediate threat to the region around it, particularly to South Korea and Japan, and a medium term threat, should it collapse, to China.”

North Korea also “poses a longer term threat to the entire world because of its nuclear programme and its export of weapons around the world,” she said.

Tensions have spiked on the Korean peninsula after the hardline regime last week launched a deadly artillery attack on the South and deepened fears about its atomic programme by boasting about a new uranium reprocessing plant.

The US this week staged naval manoeuvres with the South and today starts its largest-ever exercise with Japan – roiling both Pyongyang and its long-time patron Beijing, which considers the waters its own backyard.

Beijing has come under pressure to come down hard on the regime of Kim Jong-Il, who this year twice visited the powerful neighbour that has given Kim’s impoverished country a lifeline of food, energy and diplomatic cover.

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have snubbed Beijing’s proposal for six-way crisis talks that would also include Moscow and Pyongyang – instead scheduling their own three-way foreign ministers’ talks in Washington next Monday.

China complained it was being unfairly criticised for urging dialogue, and suggested talks with the North would be more helpful than military exercises, as South Korea also readied for new live-fire drills next week.

“Those who brandish weapons seem to be justified. China as the host of the six-party talks is criticised for calling for dialogue. Is that fair?” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

Asked about the US-Japan “Keen Sword” exercise, which will include South Korean observers, she said: “Military alliances or the brandishing of force cannot solve the (Korean) peninsula issue. The only solution is dialogue.”

Jiang also defended China’s refusal to publicly take sides in the impasse or condemn Pyongyang for its attack, saying: “Under the current circumstances, it’s not right to push the international community to take sides.”

The North triggered the latest crisis when on November 23 it shelled a South Korean border island, killing two marines and two civilians, in what it said was a retaliatory attack over a South Korean live-fire drill.