A US governor visiting North Korea has called for it to show maximum restraint to planned South Korean military drills and hopes the UN Security Council will deliver the same message in its emergency meeting, his office said.
A frequent unofficial envoy to the country, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has held three important meetings with top leaders in North Korea’s foreign ministry and military during his four-day visit.
“I hope that the UN Security Council will pass a strong resolution calling for self-restraint from all sides in order to seek peaceful means to resolve this dispute,” Richardson said in a statement released by his US office late on Saturday. “A UN resolution could provide cover for all sides that prevents aggressive military action.”
South Korea’s military plans to conduct one-day, live-fire drills by tomorrow on the same frontline island the North shelled last month as the South conducted a similar exercise. The North warned the drills would cause it to strike back harder than it did last month, when four people were killed on -Yeonpyeong Island.
The high tensions prompted the UN Security Council on Saturday to schedule an emergency meeting at Russia’s request.
The military’s position to hold the drills remains unchanged, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, indicating the drills could take place either today or tomorrow due to bad weather yesterday. He asked not to be identified, citing the issue’s sensitivity.
The North’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that South Korea would face an unspecified “catastrophe” if the drills take place, in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North also said it would strike harder than before.
South Korea says the drills are routine, defensive in nature and should not be considered threatening. The US supports that and says any country has a right to train for self-defense, but Russia and China, fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council, have expressed concern.
Russin Foreign Ministry has urged South Korea to cancel to avoid escalating tensions.
The Security Council scheduled emergency closed-door consultations on North Korea for yesterday morning at Russia’s request, said Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US Mission to the UN. The US holds the council’s rotating presidency this month.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the Russian government believes the Security Council must send “a restraining signal” to North Korea and help launch diplomatic actions to resolve all disputes between North Korea and South Korea.
China, the North’s key ally, has said it is “unambiguously opposed” to any acts that could worsen already-high tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, called for restraint from all parties concerned to avoid escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula, according to Xinhua news agency.
Amid security jitters, nearly 800 out of 1,300 civilians living on the island moved to unsold apartments in Gimpo, west of Seoul, yesterday, according to Ongjin County officials.
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