Korut Tembakkan Artileri, China Serukan Ketenangan di Semenanjung Korea
China Calls for Calm and Restraint on Korean Peninsula
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Beijing (B2B) - China menyerukan ketenangan dan pengendalian diri di semenanjung Korea sesudah Korea Utara menembakkan senjata berat dalam pelatihan tentara di dekat perbatasan laut sengketa dengan Selatan pada Senin, yang memicu pembalasan oleh Selatan.
Juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri Hong Lei mengemukakan pernyataan tersebut dalam jumpa pers harian.
Pelatihan tentara Korea Utara itu, dalam menanggapi kecaman Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa atas peluncuran peluru kendalinya pada pekan lalu, diduga pamer kekuatan, bukan awal meningkatkan ketegangan.
Korea Utara pada Senin mengumumkan melakukan pelatihan dengan peluru tajam di dekat perbatasan laut bersengketa dengan Korea Selatan, kata kementerian pertahanan Seoul.
"Korea Utara memberitahu kami bahwa mereka akan menggelar pelatihan tentara dengan peluru tajam di dekat perbatasan laut Kuning pada hari ini," kata juru bicara kementerian tersebut seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Namun, belum jelas kapan pelatihan itu berlangsung, tapi kantor berita Yonhap menyatakan Korea Utara memperingatkan Selatan mengendalikan kapal angkatan lautnya menjelang pelatihan tersebut.
Tidak biasa bagi Korea Utara memberitahu Selatan menjelang pelatihan dengan peluru tajam dan pengumuman itu datang saat ketegangan antar-Korea tersebut meningkat.
Pyongyang melakukan serangkaian peluncuran roket dan peluru kendali jarak pendek dalam beberapa pekan belakangan, dalam kecaman terhadap pelatihan tentara tahunan Korea Selatan-Amerika Serikat, yang sedang berlangsung.
Pada Rabu, Utara melakukan uji-tembak dua peluru kendali balistik jarak sedang, yang mampu mencapai Jepang, memicu kecaman Dewan Keamanan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa.
Batas laut di antara kedua Korea itu -Batas Garis Utara- tidak diakui Pyongyang, yang berpendapat bahwa batas tersebut secara sepihak dilakukan pasukan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa pimpinan Amerika Serikat sesudah Perang Korea 1950-1953.
Perbatasan bersengketa itu menjadi tempat bentrokan singkat, tapi berdarah, angkatan laut pada 1999, 2002 dan 2009.
Beijing - China called for calm and restraint on the Korean peninsula after North Korea fired artillery during a military exercise near a disputed maritime border with the South on Monday, prompting the South to fire back.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks in a daily briefing.
The military exercise by the North, in response to U.N. condemnation of its missile launches last week, appeared to be saber rattling from Pyongyang rather than a prelude to heightened tensions.
North Korea fired 10 short-range missiles into the sea off the east of the Korean peninsula on Sunday, South Korea´s Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified government officials in South Korea.
Yonhap said the missiles flew for 70 km (45 miles) before splashing into the sea.
North Korea is not banned from short-range missile launches under U.N. sanctions and frequently tests its arsenal.
The U.S. State Department said it was closely monitoring the situation after the reports of the missile firing.
"We once again call on North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a brief statement.
The North has toned down its bellicose rhetoric towards the South, although it has denounced joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that are currently taking place.
It undertook a series of short-range missile launches earlier this month as the joint exercises, which North Korea views as a threat to its security, started.
In early 2013, North Korea conducted its third nuclear weapons test, having successfully launched a long-range rocket in 2012 that critics say was aimed at proving technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Both of those are banned under U.N. sanctions.
