North Korea asks embassies to consider moving diplomats out

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

LONDON/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea warned on Friday it could not guarantee the safety of diplomats after next Wednesday and asked embassies to consider moving staff out of the country, European diplomats said, amid high tension on the Korean peninsula.

The requests came on the heels of declarations by the government of the secretive communist state that real conflict was inevitable, because of what it termed "hostile" U.S. troop exercises with South Korea and U.N. sanctions imposed over North Korea's nuclear weapons testing.

"The current question was not whether, but when a war would break out on the peninsula," because of the "increasing threat from the United States", China's state news agency, Xinhua, quoted the North's Foreign Ministry as saying.

It added that diplomatic missions should consider evacuation. North Korea would provide safe locations for diplomats in accordance with international conventions, Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying in a notification to embassies.

Britain said its embassy in Pyongyang had been told by the North Korean government it "would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10th".

"We believe they have taken this step as part of their continuing rhetoric that the U.S. poses a threat to them," Britain's Foreign Office said.

It said it had "no immediate plans" to evacuate its embassy and accused the North Korean government of raising tensions "through a series of public statements and other provocations."

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Lil' Kim Jr's scare tactics.

[Valin]