(BN) Obama Calls Hu to Urge China Assist in Restraining North Korea

Obama Calls Hu to Urge China Assist in Restraining North Korea
2010-12-06 08:46:34.37 GMT


By Bloomberg News
    Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama called Chinese
counterpart Hu Jintao to urge his help in communicating to North
Korea that its uranium-enrichment program and recent artillery
attack on a South Korean island are "unacceptable."
    Obama placed the call, made today Beijing time, to discuss
Korea tensions, the White House said in a statement. Both
leaders agreed to work together to make the peninsula free of
nuclear weapons, it said.
    The call coincided with the start of live-firing drills by
South Korea's military, similar to exercises held last month
that North Korea said prompted it to shell Yeonpyeong, killing
four people. China is North Korea's main ally, helping sustain
Kim Jong Il's regime with food, fuel and foreign currency.
    Obama "urged China to work with us and others to send a
clear message to North Korea that its provocations are
unacceptable," the White House said. Hu said all sides need to
be calm to prevent the situation from getting out of control,
the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
    The U.S., Japan and South Korea, China's three biggest
trading partners, have all urged officials in Beijing to use
their influence over North Korea to restrain its actions. The
U.S. and South Korea last week conducted naval exercises in the
sea between the peninsula and China.
    Today's South Korean drills cover 29 areas, including one
about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Daecheong island close to the
disputed western border. A spokesman at the Joint Chiefs of
Staff in Seoul, who declined to be named citing military policy,
couldn't confirm whether all the drills had started on schedule.

               'Catastrophic Consequences'

    North Korea yesterday warned that the South risked
"catastrophic consequences" with the exercises. The government
"is so hell-bent on the moves to escalate the confrontation and
start a war that it is recklessly behaving bereft of reason,"
the state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.
    Tensions have risen on the Korean peninsula since North
Korea's Nov. 23 attack on Yeonpyeong, which also lies close to
the western maritime boundary. Prime Minister Kim Hwang Sik
reiterated today that South Korea will bolster its military
presence in border areas.
    North Korea fired artillery at the fishing community and
military outpost in the first shelling of South Korean soil
since the 1950-1953 war. It said it responded to provocation
after South Korea fired into waters each side claims.
    The North doesn't recognize the western sea border
demarcated by the United Nations after the war and demands it
should be redrawn to include Yeonpyeong and four neighboring
islands.

                     'Reckless Moves'

    North Korea two days ago blasted the U.S., South Korea and
Japan for "reckless moves" to create a military alliance that
threatens peace in North Asia. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton will today host Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara
and South Korean counterpart Kim Sung Hwan in Washington to
discuss regional security.
    "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tenser
as the days go by and the danger of a war is increasing hour by
hour," KCNA reported, citing a commentary in the state-run
Rodong newspaper. "The U.S. is giving spurs to an arms buildup
and preparations for a war."

For Related News and Information:
Asia government news: TNI ASIA GOV <GO>
Japanese Defense news: TNI JAPAN DEFENSE <GO>
Korean news: TOP KR <GO>

--Michael Forsythe, Bomi Lim, Jungmin Hong. Editors: Bill
Austin,

To contact the reporters on this story:
Bomi Lim in Seoul at +82-2-3702-1673 or
blim30@bloomberg.net;
Jungmin Hong in Seoul at +82-3702-1605 or
jhong47@bloomberg.net;
Michael Forsythe in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7580 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Austin at +81-3-3201-8952 or
billaustin@bloomberg.net