"We want nothing to happen to foreigners in south korea in the event of war," a statement from the communist regime in pjongjang read on tuesday. North korea has now also stopped allowing workers from its own country into the industrial park in kaesong, which is operated jointly with south korea – the first time this has happened since the opening of the complex near the border in 2004. Production is at a standstill there.
Conflict between north and south korea threatens to spiral out of control, un secretary-general ban ki moon says. "The current mab of tensions is very dangerous. A small incident, triggered by a miscalculation, could create a situation that is no longer controllable," sud korean ban said tuesday in rome.
The G8 eagle ministers plan to discuss the situation in north korea on wednesday and thursday in london. Britain’s foreign minister william hague announced on tuesday. North korea is at a crossroads in the face of the regime’s threat rhetoric, hague said. "You have to make an important decision now."If the leadership does not decide to cooperate, the communist state will end up as a "broken country that is isolated". "Of course we will follow up any actions with a robust response," he warned.
German federal minister guido westerwelle urged pjongjang not to further aggravate the conflict in the region. North korea’s call for foreigners in sud korea to leave country unacceptable, minister says after disarmament conference in the hague on tuesday. "This is a significant threat not only to the stability of the region, but also to the international security structure. "In westerwelle’s view, there is no immediate danger of war. "This is also a lot of inward-looking war rhetoric, but we take this very seriously."
Other countries’ foreign ministers also condemned north korea’s policy in the hague. Japanese eagle minister fumio kishida spoke of a "serious provocation". His country has taken initial measures to protect itself, he said. Japanese military deployed missile defense systems in the capital tokyo, among other things.
All foreign organizations, businesses and tourists in south korea should learn about protected areas and make plans in advance for departure, a spokesman for the asia-pacific committee in pyongyang was quoted as saying by state media. North korea again accused the U.S. And south korea of preparing for nuclear war. If a conflict breaks out on the korean peninsula, north korea will wage a "merciless war of retaliation".
With the warning, north korea is further fueling the conflict over its nuclear and missile programs to increase pressure on seoul and washington. The latest announcement came a few days after north korea recommended that foreign embassies in pjongjang evacuate their embassy buildings. Despite warnings of possible dangers, foreign diplomats and their staffs remained in pjongjang.
According to "very first assessment," the situation in sud korea has not changed, diplomatic sources said. The german embassy in seoul had recently expressed the view that the current threats were much more severe than in the past, but that "a concrete threat to german nationals has not yet been seen.". According to embassy estimates, there are currently about 5,000 germans in sud korea.
The situation on the korean peninsula has been extremely tense since the third nuclear test in north korea in february. Pyongyang, faced with the expansion of UN sanctions and sudanese-US military maneuvers, had revoked the 1953 armistice treaty and declared a "state of war" with sud korea.
Sud korea suspects north korea will fire a medium-range missile from a mobile launch pad from its east coast this week. North korea is technically capable of launching a missile with an estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers, the sudkorean news agency yonhap quoted a senior military official as saying.
Nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen was scheduled to travel to south korea on thursday for a two-day visit. According to nato on tuesday in brussel he will talk among other things with president park geun-hye. Meetings with auben minister yun byun-se and defense minister kim kwan jin are also planned, he said.