Korean tensions high as U.N. meets

(News Today) - As the U.N. Security Council prepared to convene Sunday morning to hold an emergency session concerning tensions on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea reiterated that it will go forward with live-fire military drills this week.

The drills will take place Monday or Tuesday in the Yellow Sea off Yeonpyeong Island, the state-run Yonhap news agency reported, citing a military official. Tensions between the two Koreas have been high since the North fired upon the island last month, killing two marines and two civilians.

"The planned firing drill is part of the usual exercises conducted by our troops based on Yeonpyeong Island. The drill can be justifiable, as it will occur within our territorial waters," the official said.

The military said Thursday that the exercises would take place in the seas southwest of the island between December 18 and 21, but adverse weather forced a delay Saturday.

North Korea has warned of serious consequences if the drill goes on as planned, but it won't deter the South Koreans, the official said. China and Russia have asked South Korea to reconsider.

"We won't take into consideration North Korean threats and diplomatic situations before holding the live-fire drill. If weather permits, it will be held as scheduled," the military official said.

In response to the South's decision, Russia called for the emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, set for Sunday morning. The meeting was slated to begin at 11 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, North Korea was beefing up its military forces on its west coast ahead of the South's planned drills, Yonhap reported, citing a South Korean government official.

"The North Korean artillery unit along the Yellow Sea has raised its preparedness level," the source said.

A North Korean spokesman over the weekend said that the planned military exercises were a "sinister design" to violate the Korea Armistice Agreement and "ignite war at any cost."

"The shelling to be perpetrated by the puppet forces of south Korea at last, trespassing on the prohibiting line would make it impossible to prevent the situation on the Korean Peninsula from exploding and escape its ensuing disaster," the spokesman said, according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea blamed the United States for allegedly egging on the South Koreans.

North Korea "will force the U.S. to pay dearly for all the worst situations prevailing on the peninsula and its ensuing consequences," the spokesman said.

Source : CNN

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