EDITORIAL: North Korean crisis

In a bid to rein in tension created by North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean island last month, the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States met in Washington on Monday. One day before the meeting, the presidents of the United States and China had a telephone conversation.

These nations should explore every means and opportunity to try to reduce the tension prevailing on the Korean Peninsula.

In their joint statement, the three foreign ministers condemned North Korea's latest military action and its efforts to carry out uranium enrichment that would bring the country to a new level of nuclear development. The ministers stressed their solidarity, but also sought further effort from China.

The fact that they appealed to China in this manner indicates that they are aware of a hard reality--even though they have imposed fairly severe sanctions against Pyongyang, nothing has worked. China is the only party they can rely on to rein in Pyongyang.

In his phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao voiced his concern that the situation on the Korean Peninsula could spin out of control if mishandled.

This is all the more reason why Beijing must step up its efforts to persuade Pyongyang to refrain from any further acts of provocation. We suggest that Hu send his envoy to Pyongyang to convey his concerns to Kim Jong Il himself.

In South Korea, the people's feelings tend to run high against North Korea. We hope Seoul will keep that emotion in check.

South Korea's military is currently holding live-fire artillery exercises. One of the sites for those maneuvers is in waters near the North-South border. Seoul should limit its military exercises so that it does not give Pyongyang an excuse to "react."

The United States is reportedly sending an official delegation to China and other countries next week. Japan, too, will be sending senior Foreign Ministry officials to China and Russia.

This is the type of diplomatic activity that is needed now. The United States is chairing the United Nations Security Council this month. For the time being, the Americans should work to bring together member countries to get clear statements from the international community about North Korea's artillery attack and uranium enrichment.

At the same time, efforts must be made to engage Pyongyang in dialogue and persuade it to come to the negotiating table. Only then will the emergency meeting of the six-party talks proposed by China acquire any meaning.

The next step would be to ensure this emergency meeting will lead to a plenary session. The imagination and persistence of the nations involved in trying to realize this goal are being tested.

Meantime, defense cooperation between Japan and South Korea has become quite conspicuous of late. The two countries have been holding joint rescue drills and promoting friendly exchanges for years. But in July, senior officers of Japan's Self-Defense Forces attended the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise for the first time as observers. Now, senior officers of the South Korean armed forces are attending the ongoing Japan-U.S. joint drill as observers, also for the first time. Japan and South Korea have started discussing defense-related information sharing.

North Korea's recent military activities and the instability of its regime have prompted these developments. They would have been unthinkable in the past, given the history of Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula and South Korea's ingrained suspicion of the SDF.

It is necessary to share information closely with South Korea within the framework of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 8