UN fails to reach consensus on Korean crisis

UN: The UN Security Council Sunday failed to reach a consensus on the crisis of the Korean Peninsula after eight hours of closed-door consultations, due to the gaps among the council members, diplomats said here.

“While we still are waiting for firm clear instructions from every capital. I think its safe to predict that the gaps that remain are unlikely to be bridged,” said Susan Rice, the US UN ambassador.

“We also outlined our position that it is important for the two sides to act in a fashion that promotes peace and security, “ Rice told reporters.

“We have also spent much of today trying to discuss in the context of the Council how we might respond to the call of the Russian Federation for a Council press statement,” she said.

Tensions on the Peninsula are escalating as South Korea said it would conduct a live-fire drill at noon on Monday from Yeonpyeong island.

Residents of Yeonpyeong were told to take shelter ahead of the drill, which officials there said was part of routine exercises suspended after the DPRK’s deadly artillery shelling on the island on Nov. 23.

Russia asked the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on Saturday in a bid to ease the rising tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Sunday that the Secuity Council members failed to reach an agreement on his proposal that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediately sends a special representative to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for consultations on how to settle the current crisis of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

Xinhua