South fails to panic as North Korea rants
NORTH Korea intensified threats of an imminent conflict against the US and South Korea yesterday, warning foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into “thermonuclear war”.
The North’s latest message belied an atmosphere free of anxiety in the South Korean capital, where the city centre was bustling with traffic and offices operated normally.
Pyongyang has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2-million strong army for war, indicating the threat could be aimed partly at bolstering Kim Jongun, 30, the third in his family to lead the country.
The North, which threatens the US and South Korea on a daily basis, is marking anniversaries this week that have been accompanied by war rhetoric and possibly a missile test.
The warning to foreigners in the South, reported by the KCNA news agency, said once war broke out “it will be an all-out war, a merciless, sacred,
The current level of tension is very dangerous. A small incident caused by miscalculation may create an uncontrollable situation
retaliatory war to be waged by (North Korea). It does not want to see foreigners in South Korea fall victim to the war,” the agency quoted the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying. “The committee informs all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners, including tourists … that they are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation.”
A European Union official said yesterday the EU believed there was only a “limited risk” of war on the Korean peninsula. “We recognise the situation as being tense and potentially volatile. But our assessment is that there is a limited risk … of an armed conflict,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We haven’t seen conspicuous preparations in the North for an attack, and the situation on the ground in Pyongyang looks calm,” the official said, but added that there was a risk of miscalculation or escalation that was “not negligible”.
The EU will quickly adopt new sanctions on North Korea passed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council last month in response to Pyongyang’s third nuclear test, the official said.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon expressed grave concern about the situation. “The current level of tension is very dangerous. A small incident caused by miscalculation or misjudgment may create an uncontrollable situation,” he said in Rome yesterday.
Mr Ban urged North Korea to refrain from “provocative rhetoric” and asked neighbouring countries to try to exert influence on Pyongyang.
He meant China. As the North’s sole diplomatic and financial ally, China issued a new call for calm and restraint, although Beijing’s leaders have shown increasing impatience with Pyongyang.
None of the embassies in Seoul appeared to have issued directives to their nationals and airlines reported no changes in their schedules. Schools catering to foreign pupils worked without interruption.
The warning, read out on North Korea’s state television in a bulletin that interrupted normal programming, was the latest threat in weeks of high tension. It followed the North’s suspension of work at the Kaesong joint industrial park just inside North Korea. Thousands of North Korean workers failed to turn up yesterday. North Korea had said South Korea was trying to turn the Kaesong complex into a “hotbed of war”.
Speculation remained high that the North may undertake some provocative action this week — perhaps a missile launch. In a previous appeal, its authorities urged diplomats in Pyongyang to leave as their safety could not be assured beyond today.
Also featured in broadcasts were countrywide reports of celebrations marking Saturday’s 20th anniversary of the current leader’s father, Kim Jong-il, taking over North Korea’s leadership and next Monday’s birth date of his grandfather, post-Second World War state founder Kim Il-sung. A government source in Seoul said a North Korean medium-range missile, reported to have been shunted to the east coast, had been tracked and was believed to be ready for launch.
“Technically, they can launch it as early as tomorrow,” the source said.
A spokeswoman for South Korea’s presidential Blue House dismissed the warning, saying yesterday no one felt under threat. A US embassy official in Seoul said a directive issued last week saying there was no imminent threat to Americans in South Korea, remained valid. “Our workers are in all our offices today,” he said.
In a sign that investors have grown accustomed to the rhetoric, the benchmark Kospi has lost 4.3% in the past month, less than the MSCI Emerging Markets index’s 5.1% drop.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday Moscow would work with Group of Eight countries. On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin said conflict on the peninsula could cause greater devastation than the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Reuters