in South to take safety
measures
By Jethro Mullen, CNN
Image
UPDATED: 06:43 AM EDT
04.09.13
North Korea issued its lates
dispatch of ominous rhetoric
Tuesday, telling foreigners i
South Korea they should take
steps to secure shelter or
evacuation to protect themselv
in the event of a conflict on th
Korean Peninsula.
The unnerving message came as
Japan set up missile defenses in
Tokyo, and North Korean
workers failed to turn up for
work in the industrial complex
jointly operated by North and
South Korea.
In the statement published by
state-run media Tuesday, the
North's Korea Asia-Pacific Peace
Committee reiterated
accusations that Washington
and Seoul were seeking to
provoke a war with Pyongyang.
"Once a war is ignited on the
peninsula, it will be an all-out
war," the committee said, adding
that North Korea doesn't want
foreigners in South Korea to "fal
victim" to a conflict.
It follows a warning from the
North last week to diplomats in
its capital city, Pyongyang, that
if war were to break out, it would
not be able to guarantee their
safety.
But staff at the British Embassy
in Seoul appeared unimpressed
by the North's most recent
attempt to rattle nerves in the
region.
"We are not commenting on the
specifics of every piece of
rhetoric from North Korea," said
Colin Gray, head of media affairs
at the embassy. "Our travel
advice remains unchanged. At
this moment, we see no
immediate threat to British
citizens in South Korea."
Several Western countries said
last week they had no plans to
withdraw staff from Pyongyang
after the North's warning to
diplomats there.
And foreign visitors in Seoul
didn't appear to be panicking
Tuesday.
"I am concerned, but not enough
not to make the trip," said Vicky
Polashock, who was visiting
from Atlanta.
She said that there was more
tension than she'd noticed on
previous visits to South Korea,
but that the North's latest threat
"doesn't heighten the danger any
more than the last couple of
weeks."
Threat after threat
North Korea has unleashed a
torrent of dramatic threats
against the United States and
South Korea in recent weeks,
including that of a possible
nuclear strike. But many
analysts have cautioned that
much of what Kim Jong Un's
regime is saying is bluster,
noting that it is believed to stil
be years away from developing
an operational nuclear missile.
A more likely scenario, they say,
is a localized provocative move.
Amid the fiery words from
Pyongyang and annual military
training exercises by U.S. and
South Korean forces in the
region, government officials in
Washington and Seoul say they
are taking the North Korean
threat seriously.
The North was blamed for two
attacks on South Korea in 2010
-- one on a navy vessel and
another on the island of
Yeonpyeong -- that killed 50
people. Pyongyang still denies
responsibility for the sinking of
the South Korean warship, the
Cheonan, in which 46 sailors
died.
On Tuesday, Japan said it had
deployed missile defense
systems around Tokyo amid
expectations that the North
could carry out a missile test in
the coming days.
The Japanese government is
making "every possible effort to
protect the Japanese people and
ensure their safety," said Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Patriot missile batteries
were set up in the central Tokyo
district of Ichigaya and in the
suburbs of Asaka and
Narashino, authorities said.
South Korean government
officials have said they think
North Korea could conduct the
test launch of a missile as soon
as Wednesday, following reports
that the North had loaded as
many as two medium-range
missiles onto mobile launchers
on its east coast.
The United States had
previously said it was moving
missile defense systems to
Guam, a Western Pacific
territory that is home to U.S.
naval and air bases. North Korea
has cited those bases when
listing possible targets for
missile attacks.
A symbol of cooperation at risk
The souring situation on the
Korean Peninsula was in
evidence in the failure of more
than 50,000 North Korean
workers to show up for work
Tuesday morning at the Kaesong
Industrial Complex, the
manufacturing zone shared by
the two Koreas that had
operated without such an
interruption for eight years.
The North had declared Monday
that it would pull out its workers
and temporarily suspend
activities at the complex, which
sits on its side of the heavily
fortified border but houses the
operations of more than 120
South Korean companies.
On Tuesday, the South Korean
Unification Ministry said the
North Korean workers hadn't
reported for work in the district,
which is the last major symbol
of cooperation between the two
Koreas.
Analysts had expressed
skepticism that Pyongyang
would follow through on
previous threats to shut down
the complex, noting that it was
an important source of hard
currency to the regime of Kim
Jong Un.
It also likely to put pressure on
the city of Kaesong itself, where
the North Korean workers and
their families live. With an
estimated population of between
200,000 and 300,000 people, it
is one of the impoverished
country's largest cities.
South Korean officials criticized
the North's decision to halt
activities at Kaesong, with
President Park Geun-hye saying
Tuesday that it risked damaging
its credibility as a place to do
business.
Since last week, the North had
been blocking South Koreans
from entering the zone,
depriving the factories of key
personnel and supplies. The
entry ban had already prompted
more than 10 of the companies
to cease production.
As of Tuesday, 406 South
Koreans and two Chinese
remained inside the industrial
complex, the South Korean
government said.
The North had blocked South
Koreans from going into the
complex before, in March 2009.
But it returned the situation to
normal in a matter of days and
didn't withdraw its own workers
from the factories.
Anger about sanctions
North Korea stepped up its
efforts to stir tensions in the
region after the U.N. Security
Council imposed stricter
sanctions for Pyongyang's latest
underground nuclear test, which
took place in February.
Shows of strength by the U.S.
military during the current
training exercises with South
Korea have provided extra
material for the North's verbal
broadsides.
The United States has since
dialed back its military displays
to avoid any further escalation of
the crisis. It postponed a missile
test scheduled for this week in
California to prevent any
misreading of the situation by
Pyongyang.
But North Korea is sticking to its
claim that it needs its own
nuclear weapons as a deterrent
to the threat it perceives from
the United States. And it is
demanding to be recognized
globally as a nuclear power.
Last week, Pyongyang said it
would restart a nuclear reactor
that it had shut down five years
ago under an agreement with
Washington, Seoul, Beijing and
other parties.
It has also severed a key military
hotline with the South, and said
it was ditching the armistice
agreement that stopped the
Korean War in 1954. Because
that war ended in a truce and
not a formal peace treaty, the
two Koreas technically remain at
war.lleesntNorth Korea tells foreigners

North is the real problem of the world.
Northern Nigeria inclusive