China calls for emergency meeting amid Korea crisis

China has called for an emergency meeting of key nations amid tension in Korea over the North’s deadly shelling of a Southern island.



The meeting, which involves the two Koreas, the United States of America, China, Japan and Russia, has been proposed December.



Correspondents say South Korea's response has been non-committal and that it will consult other countries.



Tension remains high on the peninsula, with the US and South Korea undertaking joint military exercises which the North has denounced as a provocation.



The six-party North Korea talks have been stalled since April 2009, and South Korea and the US say they should not resume until the North has made a genuine offer to halt its nuclear programme.