The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at Russia's request to discuss the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Closed-door consultations will start at 11:00 a.m. EST (16:00 GMT), Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, told reporters in New York on Saturday.
The United States holds the council's rotating presidency in December.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed its concern to North Korea's ambassador Kim Jong-Jae over the reclusive communist state's promise to use military force should its rival South Korea hold live-fire drills in the Yellow Sea.
Pyongyang earlier blasted Seoul's plans to hold exercises on Yeonpyeong Island on December 18-21, saying its response would be "deadlier" than the shelling in November that killed four South Koreans on the island.
The North does not recognize the sea border between the two countries, known as the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn up by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
UNITED NATIONS, December 19 (RIA Novosti)
