North Korea and South Korea on the Brink of War

Two weeks ago, North Korea shelled a South Korean island called Yeonpyeong. Innocent people were killed in the attack by North Korea, as the Norh Koreans did not want the present South Korean military exercises to take place. Some of the South Korean islands are located very conspiculasly close to North Korea.  Everyone seems to be waiting what will happen next.   The United States immediately sent warships to converge with South Korean ships to engage in military exercises to try and influence the North Koreans not to attack again. If another country attacked the United States, you could bet there would be a direct and immediate military response to anyone country that was responsible for the attack. But the United States seems to think now that diplomacy between North Korea and South Korea is the best answer for peace at the present time. This may be so, but if North Korea strikes its southern neighbor again, I do not think that South Korea would wait to strike back.
At the same time, China now seems to be in a diplomatic mode, as this country would like to conviene talks between 5 countries in an attempt to try and defuse the tension and possibilities for war between North Korea and South Korea. This in itself is interesting, because China outwardly supports North Korea, and the United States outwardly supports South Korea. A meeting that China wants to take place in January with the six nations of North Korea, South Korea, United States, Japan, Russia and China would be like a session in the U.S. Congress fighting amongst each other on policies. These meetings between the countries have never before seemed to result in anything good, but only seemed to be an action of goodwill between the countries.

At the present time, the countries within the Korean puninsula need more than just good will. The tension in the area is so think that you can expect any slight future confrontation to become a major war between the North and the South.
Meanwhile, the United States and China and other countries have elected to sit back and wait. No one country wants to provoke another war, especially the united States, with its hands full with two wars, one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq. President Obama will be very reluctant in committing to a third war at his choice.