China Urges Calm as US-South Korea Military Exercises Begin

By Vince Morkri

     BEIJING (MNI) - China warned again Monday that joint U.S.-South Korea

military exercises "are not conducive to the easing of conditions on the Korean

Peninsula," and called once more on the U.S. and North Korea to consider

Beijing's "suspension for suspension" proposal to ease tensions. 

     Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing

that the latest U.S.-South Korean exercises, which began Monday, were adding

"fuel to the fire" of the crisis. Beijing has called for the United States and

South Korea to suspend the exercises and for North Korea to likewise suspend its

nuclear weapons program.

     North Korea on Monday called the 10-day military exercises "reckless

behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war."

     "The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against

us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won't evolve into actual

fighting," North Korean state media said.

     Tensions had eased between the U.S. and North Korea late last week after

the North said it would not fire missiles at the U.S. territory of Guam, as it

had threatened to do in response to the passage of U.N. resolutions imposing

further economic sanctions on North Korea for testing two intercontinental

ballistic missiles last month. 

     Hua said China had noted that the normal number of troops used by the

United States in the annual exercise had been reduced by 7,500 -- from 25,000

last year to about 17,500 this year -- but reiterated that the situation

remained "tense," and that the Chinese government hoped "the various parties can

make greater efforts" toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis. 

     South Korea has said the exercises, which are mostly computer-simulated,

are purely defensive in nature and are not intended to provoke Pyongyang.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: vince.morkri@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MC$$$$]