China: Korea Tensions May ‘Spin Out of Control’
Tensions at highest level in decades
Video
Korea tensions put Beijing in a bind (NBC Nightly News, Nov. 29, 2010) — China’s friendship with North Korea has lasted sixty years, but it’s now put Beijing in a diplomatic bind. NBC’s Adrienne Mong has more from the Chinese capital. (02:19)
Reuters and The Associated Press via MSNBC.com
December 6, 2010
BEIJING — China is worried tensions in the Korean peninsula could spiral out of control if not dealt with properly, President Hu Jintao told U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday in their first discussion of the situation since North Korea shelled the South nearly two weeks ago.
The White House said Obama, in a telephone call with Hu, urged Beijing to work with the United States and others to “send a clear message to North Korea that its provocations are unacceptable.” …
At a news conference with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the three agree that there should be no direct talks with North Korea until it changes course. …
Tensions have risen to their highest level in decades on the peninsula after the Yeonpyeong attack, which came days after the North revealed it had made significant advances in its nuclear program. …
South Korea has sharply increased its rhetoric over the past week, prompted by public opinion polls critical of the conservative government’s perceived weak response to the attack. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin has said the South will respond with bombs and air power if attacked again. …
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Related reports on this site
Crew members watch as an F/A-18E Super Hornet lands on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during a naval exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010. The drills come amid heightened tension in the region in the wake of a North Korean artillery attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island. (Photo credit: Park Ji-hwan / AFP — Getty Images)
Winds of War on Korean Peninsula (Nov. 25, 2010)
Perilous Flare-Up of Korean War (Nov. 24, 2010)
North Korea ‘Very Dangerous’ (Nov. 22, 2010)
Kim Jong-un Succession in N. Korea (Oct. 11, 2010)
Kim Jong Il Threat Assessment (May 31, 2009)
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — December 6, 2009
Video
Bin Laden threatens Americans in new tape (MSNBC, March 25, 2010) — NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports. (02:15)
One year ago today, IÂ reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos on ABC News “This Week” that the U.S. has not had any good intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden in “years.”
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — December 6, 2008
Iraq ‘Longer and More Costly’
President George W. Bush listens to his introduction before speaking at the Saban Forum 2008 at the Newseum in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. (Photo credit: Saul Loeb / AFP — Getty Images)
Two years ago today, on Dec. 6 2008, I reported that President George W. Bush, on a valedictory tour prior to leaving office, admitted to a few previously unacknowledged errors, telling one interviewer that he was “unprepared for war” when he entered office and that his “biggest regret” was the failure of intelligence leading up to the Iraq invasion.
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December 9th, 2010 at 7:14 am
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