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North Korea said today the Korean peninsula was headed for "thermo-nuclear" war and advised foreigners in South Korea to consider evacuation, in the latest in a series of apocalyptic threats.
It followed a similar warning issued last week to foreign embassies in its capital Pyongyang to consider evacuating by April 10, saying it could not ensure the safety of their personnel if a conflict broke out.
"The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war," the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.Saying it did not want to see foreigners in South Korea "fall victim", the statement requested all foreign institutions, enterprises and tourists "to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety".The committee blamed the heightened war risk on the "warmongering US" and its South Korean "puppets" who were intent on invading the North.
The "thermo-nuclear war" threat has been wielded several times in recent months -- most recently on March 7 -- despite expert opinion that North Korea is nowhere near developing such an advanced nuclear device.
Last week's warning to embassies was also largely dismissed as empty rhetoric, with most governments involved making it clear they had no plans to withdraw personnel from their Pyongyang missions.
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It's almost comic," Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group, said of the latest threat.
"They want to rattle the investment market, create pressure and make people nervous."But it's just not working. It's as if they didn't get a rise out of the embassies in Pyongyang, so they're just moving on to the next target," Pinkston said.
The South Korean stock market closed slightly up today, before the KCNA statement was published.The Korean peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military tensions since the North's third nuclear test in February, which drew toughened UN sanctions.
Pyongyang's bellicose rhetoric has reached fever pitch in recent weeks, with near-daily threats of attacks on US military bases and South Korea in response to ongoing South Korea-US military exercises.
There has been no significant foreign investment fallout in South Korea from the current crisis, and today's threat was unlikely to cause any great consternation for a foreign community of around 1.4 million that has calmly weathered the rhetorical storm thus far.
