Korea crisis: US-South Korea war games begin

Seoul: North Korea has deployed surface-to-air missiles on its west coast ahead of the United States and South Korea beginning naval exercises in the Yellow Sea.

The US and South Korea will begin joint naval exercises soon, ignoring warnings from the North that they were risking war.

China appeared to support its North Korean ally by indicating that it was against any military activity in waters that were in its exclusive economic zone.

But the US sent a top naval commander to the island which the North had shelled last on Tuesday and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is already in waters off North Korea and China.

Diplomatic efforts to head off any armed confrontation continued. China expressed concern about the military exercises in the Yellow Sea. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pressed her Chinese counterpart Saturday to "make clear that North Korea's behaviour is unacceptable".

(With inputs from IANS, PTI)