Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reached out to North Korea’s chief ally, China, yesterday as leaders in Pyongyang launched a new round of saber rattling over this weekend’s planned start of joint naval maneuvers by the United States and South Korea.
With tensions mounting on the divided peninsula and a US flotilla steaming to the region, Clinton spoke by telephone to China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, China’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
China is North Korea’s chief ally, and Chinese leaders are unhappy about the planned naval exercises, including the expected arrival of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the Yellow Sea, which China believes is part of its sphere of influence.
Yang urged leaders in the South and North to exercise calm and restraint and solve problems through dialogue, a ministry statement said, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which did not reveal specifics of the conversation with Clinton.
Beijing’s foreign minister also met with the North Korean ambassador yesterday in an apparent effort to trumpet China’s role as a responsible actor and to placate the United States and the South.
The North, which sees the drills as a major military provocation, unleashed its anger over the planned exercises in a dispatch yesterday.
“The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war,” said the report from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
Tensions between the Koreas escalated after the North shelled Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday, killing two South Korean civilians as well as two marines in a major escalation of their sporadic skirmishes along the border.
The few remaining residents on the island yesterday scurried for safety again after the North Korean artillery could be heard firing during military drills across the border, which the North does not recognize.
No shells crossed the border, but the drill came as the US commander in South Korea, Gen. Walter Sharp, toured the island to survey the damage from Tuesday’s attack.
The Pentagon yesterday defended upcoming naval exercises against criticism by China.
“It’s important for us to state publicly that this exercise and the ones we’ve done in the past are not directed at China,” said Capt. Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman. “As with the previous exercises, these have been designed to strengthen deterrence against North Korea.”