China Calls for Emergency Talks

As South Korea and the United States began naval war drills, China finally broke its silence about the tensions mounting between the two Korean nations. On Sunday, China called for emergency talks among the nations previously involved in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program. The U.S. and South Korea have been calling for days on China to rebuke North Korea’s deadly artillery attack on a Yellow Sea island populated by South Koreans. It remains unclear if China is hoping to re-start talks about North Korea’s nuclear program or if the meeting it suggested was to discuss the North’s recent aggressive behavior. The naval exercises were intended by the U.S. and South Korea to deter further attacks from the North and signal to China that if it does not intervene, it may see a larger American presence in the region.