Weather may delay South Korea drills, after north's threats

Bad weather on Saturday appeared likely to delay a live-fire drill by South Korean marines that drew North Korean threats of another military attack and renewed calls for restraint by China.

The South Korean military had planned the exercise for December 18-21 off this small island, hit by a North Korean bombardment last month.

However, military officials quoted by Yonhap news agency said the drills were likely to be delayed by fog and wind.

Analysts were sceptical the North would carry out the threat it issued on Friday, which rattled financial markets and brought a vow by the South to retaliate against any attack by Pyongyang.

But tensions on the peninsula remained high, with a US troubleshooter, governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, calling the situation "a tinderbox" and urging the North to let the rival South conduct exercises.

China, the North's main backer, urged both nations to refrain from acts that would inflame an already "extremely precarious" situation.

"The serious tension on the peninsula must not be allowed to escalate," Chinese vice-foreign minister Zhang Zhijun said on Saturday. "China is firmly against any behaviour that may result in the situation deteriorating or damaging regional stability."

Yeonpyeong is a usually sleepy place. But the island is also only a short distance from the Northern Line Limit (NLL) -- the sea border declared at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War but still disputed by the North.

Many of the 1,600 residents, who live alongside 1,000 military personnel, are uneasy about the prospect of a new barrage and have chosen to leave for the mainland for a while.

A marine corps officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the military would only announce plans for the drills a few hours in advance, and only to media on the island.

North Korea said on Friday it would retaliate against the drills with a stronger strike than last month's bombardment, in which it rained 170 rounds of artillery down on Yeonpyeong, killing four people. South Korea hit back with 80 rounds.

On Saturday, the North's state media launched a blistering assault on the South's pledge to cooperate with the United States and retaliate in the event of another bombardment. They suggested any such move could trigger a nuclear conflict.

"It is a suicidal move akin to digging one's own grave for the South's conservative forces to gang up with outside elements to try to harm compatriots," the official publication of the North's cabinet, Minju Joson, said in an editorial.

China issued a renewed plea for restraint, saying any fresh clash could shake regional stability.

Vice-foreign minister Zhang said Beijing recently summoned the ambassadors of both Koreas to remind them of China's "position and proposals".

Russia called on South Korea to halt plans for the drill, summoning the ambassadors from Seoul and Washington to express "extreme concern" over the exercise.

In Pyongyang, governor Richardson, on a private mission to cool tensions, described the situation as "a tinderbox" and urged the North to let the South proceed with the exercises.

"There's enormous potential for miscalculation," he said in a telephone interview with CNN. "I'm urging (on the North) extreme restraint ... Let's cool things down."

The US state department underscored the US stance that South Korea had every right to conduct the exercises, but indicated that it, too, was worried.

"We trust that South Korea will be very cautious in terms of what it does, but that said, let's put the responsibility squarely where it lies," a state department spokesperson said.

North Korea is seeking the resumption of six-party talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme.

It wants the talks to resume without preconditions, something Washington and South Korea have ruled out because they do not want to reward Pyongyang for hostile actions.

Analysts say the North uses the threat of attacks and even nuclear conflict to win concessions such as food and economic aid at talks over its nuclear stockpile.

At the same time as the poor, reclusive country is pushing for aid, the North is also in the throes of a potential leadership succession as ailing leader Kim Jong-il grooms his youngest son Kim Jong-un as the next ruler.