Seoul unfazed by North Korea’s threats over military drills

Reporting from Seoul —  Rifle-toting Marines conducted patrols Sunday on a South Korean island at the center of recent tensions on the Korean peninsula as the international community nervously anticipated the start of the South’s planned live-fire drills, which have been condemned by Kim Jong-Il’s military.

South Korean military officials pledged to carry through with the exercises on tiny Yeonpyeong Island, despite warnings from the North that any provocation would lead to a repeat of its shelling barrage that killed four island residents last month.

World powers trying to defuse tensions between North and South Korea met in an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. But officials disagreed over whether the North should be singled out for criticism over the deadly attacks, which have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades. Russia, which is among several regional capitals expressing growing concern over the standoff, had earlier urged the meeting, hoping it would prompt both sides to scale back on threats and belligerent exchanges.

Over the weekend, China also called for restraint, saying it stood firmly against any acts that could “sabotage regional peace and stability.”

The U.S. supports South Korea’s decision to conduct war games in its own territory, a Yellow Sea island seven miles off the North Korean border, within sight of Kim Jong-Il’s secretive regime. North Korea has said the exercises threaten its sovereignty and has promised “unpredictable self-defensive blows” if the drills are held.

On Sunday, Bill Richardson, outgoing New Mexico governor turned international troubleshooter, said he made some progress in pleas to North Korean officials to back off from continued pledges of violence.

Richardson, on a private four-day mission to Pyongyang, said he wasn’t sure whether North Korea would attack the South again, telling CNN: “It’s still very tense out there.”

He added that officials “said there would be a response, but at the same time they hope a U.N. Security Council resolution would tamp down the situation. It was very clear they were very upset by the potential exercise.”

In a statement released by his office late Saturday, Richardson called on the U.N. to act quickly. “I hope that the U.N. Security Council will pass a strong resolution calling for self-restraint from all sides in order to seek peaceful means to resolve this dispute,” the statement read. “A U.N. resolution could provide cover for all sides that prevents aggressive military action.”

But Seoul also refused to back off Sunday as officials said a postponement due to bad weather of the daylong exercises, scheduled to start between Saturday and Tuesday, did not mean they would be canceled.

“The live-fire drill off Yeonpyeong Island will take place on Dec. 20 or 21, as previously announced, depending on weather conditions,” an unnamed official told Seoul’s Yonhap News Service.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official, who also did not give his name, told the news service that South Korea was not in any way considering the North’s objections in making its decision to carry out the drills.

“The planned firing drill is part of the usual exercises conducted by our troops based on Yeonpyeong Island. The drill will occur within our territorial waters,” the official said. “We won’t take into consideration North Korean threats and diplomatic situations before holding the live-fire drill.”

In calling for the U.N.’s emergency closed-door consultations, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Saturday that his government believed the Security Council must send “a restraining signal” to North Korea and help launch diplomatic actions to resolve the dispute.

He also blamed the U.S., which this month holds the Security Council’s rotating presidency, for declining to convene a meeting on Saturday as he had requested in a letter to the U.S. mission. “We regret that,” Churkin told reporters.

On Nov. 23, North Korea unleashed nearly 200 shells on Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines and two civilians. Following what many South Koreans believed was a weak response to the attack, Seoul replaced its defense minister.

Newly appointed Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin has vowed to hit back hard in a counterstrike that would include air power if North Korea attacks again. Seoul has put its F-15K and KF-16 fighters on standby.

South Korea has said that, like last month in drills that led to Pyongyang’s attack, its artillery guns will be aimed southwest and away from North Korea. Officials said that clear weather was vital to observe the artillery trajectory and closely monitor the North Korean military’s movements during the drills.

Over the weekend, Pyongyang continued to lash out verbally against its southern neighbor, blaming Seoul for conspiring with Washington to cause trouble on the peninsula.

In a statement, North Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman said: “We will be sure to settle scores with the U.S. for the extreme situation on the Korean peninsula. Our military does not speak empty words.”

john.glionna@latimes.com