North Korea to Foreigners in South: Take Safety Measures

World | April 9, 2013, Tuesday // 10:38
Bulgaria: North Korea to Foreigners in South: Take Safety Measures North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects drills by the Korean People's Army navy at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast on March 25 in a photo from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea issued on Tuesday a warning to foreigners in South Korea, saying they should take steps to secure shelter or evacuation to protect themselves in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, CNN reported.

The unnerving message, announced by state-run media, 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.

In the statement 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 "fall victim" to a conflict.

North Korea has unleashed a torrent of dramatic threats against the United States and South Korea in recent weeks, but many analysts have cautioned that much of what it is saying is bluster. More likely, they say, is a localized provocative move.

In that context, Japan said Tuesday that it had deployed missile-defense systems around Tokyo amid expectations that the North could carry out a missile test in the coming days.

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.

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.

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Tags: North, Korea, South, Washington, Seoul, Pyongyang

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