Embassy Warning Joins Drumbeat of North Korea Threats
By ELLEN BARRY
North Korea suggested some countries might want to evacuate their
Pyongyang embassies, a move analysts dismissed as a new way of raising
tension.
By ELLEN BARRY
Published: April 5, 2013
MOSCOW — The North Korean government on Friday advised Russia and other
countries to consider evacuating their embassies in Pyongyang amid
rising tension there, Russia’s foreign minister said.
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British officials said that they had received a similar communication,
but that there were no immediate plans to evacuate the British Embassy.
Analysts in Russia and South Korea suggested that the North’s advisory
was not an indication that Pyongyang was considering military action but
was instead part of an unrelenting drumbeat of threats calculated to
frighten the United States and its Asian allies, possibly to force
concessions including much-needed aid.
“I don’t think they are doing this because they think there is going to
be a war,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies in
Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. “Rather, this is part of a
calculated, psychological campaign to increase a sense of crisis and get
international attention.”
Aleksandr Zhebin, a leading Korean expert at the Russian Academy of
Sciences, also played down the significance in a statement to the
Interfax news agency: “If Pyongyang were getting ready for an armed
conflict in earnest, it would hardly have asked the foreign missions to
leave the country,” because the presence of diplomats, especially from
Russia and China, could help shield the city in case of military
conflict.
He also said North Korea’s advisory was not accompanied by any moves
indicating that the North was preparing for large-scale hostilities,
like mobilizing reservists, and suggested that Friday’s warning might be
aimed at enlisting help from Moscow and Beijing, both potential
advocates, as the United States strengthens its military presence in the
region.
In any case, the advisory appeared to cause confusion among the
countries that were notified, a relatively small group, since few
nations maintain embassies in the isolated and often belligerent North.
Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Russia was pushing for clarification.
“We are very concerned about the increase in tension, so far verbal,” he
told reporters traveling with him in Uzbekistan, according to an
official transcript. “We want to understand the reasons for this
proposal to evacuate embassies.” He said it also remained unclear if the
North Koreans were actually ordering diplomats to leave despite their
indication that it was a proposal meant to guarantee diplomats’ safety
in the event of a conflict.
Mr. Lavrov said Russia was consulting with officials from the United States, China, South Korea and Japan on the matter.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning the rising tensions.
“Prevention of military operations on the Korean Peninsula is
imperative,” the statement said. “We consider the policy of stirring up
military tension as absolutely unacceptable, and we hope for the
parties’ maximum restraint.”
The British Foreign Office also expressed confusion, first issuing a
statement suggesting that the North had said it would be unable to
guarantee the safety of embassies “in the event of conflict from April
10,” raising the possibility that it was planning some action. But the
foreign office later said that was a misinterpretation and that the
North had asked diplomats to let Pyongyang know by that date if they
needed help moving from the embassies.
In a statement, the foreign office also condemned North Korea for
ratcheting up tensions “through a series of public statements and other
provocations.”
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