North Korea tells foreigners to leave the South

The warning came amid growing concerns that the North may launch a missile test.

09:12 10 April 2013

Pyongyang has been making provocative threats against South Korea, Japan, and US bases in the region. In its latest bellicose threat, North Korea urged foreigners in the South to take evacuation measures in case of war.

Due to growing concern that the North may be about to launch a missile test, Japan has deployed defensive anti-missile batteries at three locations in Tokyo. It also sent two modern warships to the Sea of Japan designed to shoot down any missiles fired by North Korea toward the Japanese Islands.

However, several sources say that Japanese do not believe that Pyongyang is really preparing to attack.

Foreign Secretary William Hague seems to agree. On Monday, he said that North Korea is bluffing. He added: “North Korea is enjoying the global media attention. We musn’t feed and respond to the rhetoric coming out of it every day.”  

No foreign embassy announced plans to evacuate. UK and Russian embassies said that they have no immediate plans to shut down their embassies. US, on the other hand, said there were no imminent signs of threats to American citizens.