China's Hu tells Obama worried by Korea situation

BEIJING | Mon Dec 6, 2010 2:11am EST

BEIJING Dec 6 (Reuters) - China is highly concerned about the situation on the Korean peninsula, which could spiral out of control if not dealt with properly, President Hu Jintao told U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call on Monday.

"Especially with the present situation, if not dealt with properly, tensions could well rise on the Korean peninsula or spin out of control, which would not be in anyone's interest," Xinhua news agency paraphrased Hu as saying.

"The most pressing task at present is to calmly deal with the situation," Hu added, according to the report.

China has faced calls from the United States and its allies to do more to rein in its ally North Korea after confrontation between Pyongyang and Seoul flared last month when North Korea shelled a South Korean island. Beijing has responded by calling for talks to defuse tensions. (Reporting by Kevin Yao and Michael Martina; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ken Wills)

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Comments (3)
HelpAmerica wrote:
there is not enough info in this story to comment on

Dec 06, 2010 5:49am EST  --  Report as abuse
marisa70394 wrote:
Hu Jintao said, “Even though North Korea keeps killing South Koreans whenever they want, keeps fiddling with their nuclear weapons, keep building up their nuclear reactors to make more bombs, keeps buying shipping missiles to Iran, keeps buying weapons from China, keeps starving their people, keeps counterfeiting money, keeps doing all kinds of horrible things, JUST KEEP CALM!” I think there is plenty to comment on. What is there to keep calm about?

Dec 06, 2010 6:50am EST  --  Report as abuse
Prof_Refalo wrote:
I think Japan is realizing it will have to rebuild its military, or be increasingly threatened and subjugated. Frankly, I think Japan should build a couple of full size carriers, and it would be in the US interest to have them do so. There is no need for the United States to bear the full cost of providing defense for the region. Maybe the British will get them started by selling them one of theirs. Right now, the UK can’t even afford planes for them.

Dec 06, 2010 1:43pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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