SEOUL: The US has delayed a ballistic missile test to avoid stoking tensions with North Korea, which has warned diplomats to consider evacuating from Pyongyang as a nuclear crisis brews on the Korean peninsula.
The Pentagon’s disclosure that it would reschedule the intercontinental missile test due in California next week comes as the international community grows increasingly nervous that the situation could spiral out of control.
A US defence official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel postponed the Minuteman 3 test at Vandenberg Air Force Base until next month due to concerns it “might be misconstrued by some as suggesting that we were intending to exacerbate the current crisis with North Korea.”
“We wanted to avoid that misperception or manipulation,” the US official told AFP. “We are committed to testing our ICBMs to ensure a safe, secure, effective nuclear arsenal.”
North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.
It has also reportedly loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast, raising the spectre it is preparing for a provocative launch.
Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang huddled at the weekend to discuss the North’s warning that it could not guarantee their safety after April 10 if a conflict broke out, although most appeared to be staying put.
Most of their governments have made it clear they have no immediate plans to withdraw personnel, and some suggested the advisory was a ruse to fuel growing global anxiety over the current crisis on the Korean peninsula.
“The security of the German embassy and its exposure to danger are continually being evaluated,” the German foreign ministry said Saturday. “For now, the embassy can continue working.”
The United Nations has also said it had no plans to pull staff out and a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We believe they have taken this step as part of their country’s rhetoric that the US poses a threat to them.”
A further meeting of EU ambassadors is due to take place on Monday in Brussels.
The North’s mobilised missiles are reported to be untested Musudan models which are believed to have a range of around 1,860 miles (3,000 kilometres) that could theoretically be pushed to 2,485 miles with a light payload.
That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam.
The North has no proven inter-continental ballistic missile capability that would enable it to strike more distant US targets, and many experts say it is unlikely it can even mount a nuclear warhead on a mid-range missile.
After non-stop escalation including the public deployment of US warships and planes to the region, the Pentagon move was a welcome measure to cool tensions, said Yang Moo-Jin from the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“The US military may have felt that now was time to pace itself after weeks of hectic military confrontation,” he told AFP.
“If the North really launches intermediate-range missiles as widely feared, the US may be partially blamed for having pushed it to take such drastic action by deploying extremely threatening weaponry near the Korean peninsula.”
Western tourists returning from organised tours in Pyongyang — which have continued despite the tensions — said the situation on the ground appeared calm, with life going on as normal.
“We’re glad to be back but we didn’t feel frightened when we were there,” said Tina Krabbe, from Denmark, arriving in Beijing this weekend after five days in North Korea.
North Korea on Wednesday put in place a ban on South Koreans accessing their companies in the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial zone on the North side of the border. There are no cross-trips on Sundays.
Kaesong, which was established in 2004 and is a crucial hard currency source for North Korea, is the only surviving example of inter-Korean cooperation and seen as a bellwether for stability on the Korean peninsula.
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