N. Korea agrees to China's call for talks

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- North Korea agreed proposed emergency talks among six-party negotiators to ease tensions between the Koreas, officials said.

The agreement was reached when Chinese leaders met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last week, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday.

Beijing proposed in late November that lead six-party negotiators from the North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China meet to discuss ways to alleviate the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula sparked by North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island.

"China and North Korea have agreed that the two sides should prevent the tense situation from further escalating and put constructive effort into building peace on the Korean Peninsula, while maintaining calmness and restraint," said Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry.

A U.S. delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg was expected to arrive in China to urge Beijing to play a greater role in trying to influence Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, North Korea accused Seoul of trying to instigate war after last month's artillery attack on the South Korean island and subsequent joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported. North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island, home to fishing communities and military bases, killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.

North Korea's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said the joint drills and South Korea's comments that it would conduct live-fire military drills and retaliate against Pyongyang's "provocation" would bring the Korean Peninsula to a state of "touch and go."