ALBANY, GA -- South Korea’s President warned North Korea on Monday: There will be consequences if they attack South Korea again. Last Tuesday, four people died in a North Korean artillery barrage that targeted Yeonpyeong Island.

On Sunday, the United States and South Korea participated in joint military exercise, which prompted furious retorts from North Korea.

With tensions brewing, could North Korea’s ally, China, and South Korea’s ally, the United States, get involved, and is war the next step.

“If North Korea does attack South Korea then we will be involved because we supported them when they needed us in 1950,” says Don Norman with the American Legion Post 30.

While the U.S. is already involved with South Korea, the world’s other super power, China, could get involved too if there is a war.

“China also do have some super power capability too. They may never let it get to become a war but it’s a recipe for disaster,” says Albany State University Political Science Professor Dr. Babafemi Elufiede.

Veterans say the Korean War was what they would call a “traditional war,” but with the technological and weaponry advances the U.S. has today, could nuclear weapons be involved this time?

“As far as nuclear arms, nobody can tell about that. China has them, United States has them,” says Norman.

Norman says China will tell North Korea to back off. Both Norman and Elufiede say they believe the current tensions will be peacefully quieted.

“Personally I think it will dissolve because nobody wants war of that nature especially when they are nuclear prepared,” says Elufiede. “Any nuclear war is not a small war.”

According Elufiede, Sunday’s United States and South Korea joint military exercises are a way to display intimidation.

“Displaying their armaments, trying to say, ‘We are just exercising, doing some practice.’ It’s a way to say, ‘Please, don’t try us,’” he says.

On Sunday, China called for an emergency meeting of the six major powers involved in talks about the Korean peninsula, which includes Japan, the United States and Russia. The goal according to Beijing’s special representative for the region is to ease tension and maintain peace between North and South Korea. South Korea says is does not think the time is right for a six-party talk but would keep China’s proposal in mind.