Japan, S. Korea, U.S. to meet on N. Korea

Japan, South Korea and the United States will holdhigh-level talks to plot a joint strategy on dealing with North Korea after its deadly artillery bombardment of the South, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea in Washington, D.C.,on Monday to"discuss the recent developments on the Korean Peninsula and their impact on regional security, as well as other regional and global issues," the State Department said.

The three nations are trying to decide how to approach the reclusive North in the aftermath of last week's shelling of a South Korean island that killed four people andescalated tensions. They have balked at a Chinese proposal for an emergency meeting of the six countries involved in the ongoing nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea.

Earlier Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called on all parties to avoid acts that risk further inflaming heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Calm and restraint are required and talks are now needed to cool down the situation, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Yang as saying.

'The parties concerned should keep calm and exercise restraint.' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi

Nothing should be done to "inflame the situation," said Yang in the highest-level Chinese comment yet on the crisis.

"The parties concerned should keep calm and exercise restraint, and work to bring the situation back onto the track of dialogue and negotiation," Yang said. "China decides its position based on the merits of each case and does not seek to protect any side."

China is North Korea's most important ally and has been accused of failing to use its diplomatic and economic influence to rein Pyongyang in while providing diplomatic cover for the impoverished hardline communist regime at the United Nations.

China has issued no direct public criticism of North Korea since the incident on Nov. 23. Beijing has said it is concerned U.S.-South Korean naval drills this week could lead to further clashes.

On Sunday, Beijing called for emergency consultations between heads of delegations to stalled six-nation North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, which also include the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

S. Korean drills to continue?

The chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, Choe Thae Bok, arrived from Pyongyang on Tuesday for a five-day visit at the invitation of China's second-most powerful official, Wu Bangguo.

Japan has rejected an immediate round of the aid-for-disarmament talks, but sent its envoy, Akitaka Saiki, to China to meet with counterpart Wu Dawei.

Seoul, meanwhile, has said the North must show real commitment to disarm for talks to restart.

South Korea's drills with the U.S. involving a nuclear-powered supercarrier in western waters south of the disputed border were set to end Wednesday. The drills were largely aimed at testing communications systems and didn't have live fire, but North Korea expressed its fury over them.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said that Seoul and Washington are discussing whether to conduct new joint military drills this month or early next month. The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing agency rules, would only say that the drills would take place off South Korea's west coast.

South Korea's military separately plans what it calls routine weeklong naval live-fire exercises from 29 sites next week. Similar naval firing drills will follow in coming weeks, but Yeonpyeong Island and other front-line islands have not been immediately designated as firing sites, the officer said.

Meanwhile, a report published by the Korean news agency Yonhap says that the chief of South Koreas spy agency thinks North Korea will likely threaten another attack.

Won Sei-hoon, director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, told a committee of legislators that the recent attacks came amid "internal complaints" over the countrys succession plan and deteriorating economic situation, the report said.

The comment comes as demonstrators in Seoul continued protests against North Korea.