国际英语新闻：Security Council likely to meet on Korea on Sunday

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council is not expected to meet in an emergency session over rising tensions on the Korean peninsula on Saturday afternoon, but the 15 Council members are likely to discuss this issue on Sunday, a UN official said.

"There is no Security Council meeting this afternoon," an official from the UN Spokesperson's Office told Xinhua on Saturday, adding that a Security Council meeting "is likely" to take place on Sunday.

Diplomatic sources also confirmed to Xinhua that no decision has been made for the Council to meet on Saturday, but a meeting is possible on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, reports said that Russia called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Saturday afternoon to discuss the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Also on Saturday, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) accused the United States of goading South Korea into provoking it, the official news agency KCNA reported.

South Korea's plan to hold firing drills again on Yonphyong Island was an "intolerable tease" and "absolutely unfair bellicose provocation," a spokesman for DPRK's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday.

The move would lead the situation on the peninsula to an explosion and bring about tragic disasters if it broke that bottom, he said.

The DPRK has sent warnings that provocateurs who infringe on its sovereignty and territory would be punished "firmly and unmercifully." It is not empty talk, he said.

In Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said on Saturday that China is deeply worried about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, which is extremely precarious, highly complicated and sensitive.

In a statement on China's stance on the situation, Zhang said that China had repeatedly told the parties that if blood were shed on the Korean Peninsula, the peoples on the two sides of the peninsula would be the first to suffer.

Zhang said that bloodshed and conflict would lead to national tragedy of fratricide among compatriots and brothers of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK), harm regional peace and stability, and affect neighboring countries.

China had made unremitting efforts with the DPRK, the ROK and other parties through various channels to avoid escalation of the situation, he said.