N. Korea to Foreigners: Get Out, Avoid 'Thermonuclear War'

South shrugs over warning for non-Koreans to clear out
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 9, 2013 7:06 AM CDT
Updated Apr 9, 2013 7:33 AM CDT
N. Korea to Foreigners: Get Out, Avoid 'Thermonuclear War'
People watch a TV program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station Sunday, April 7, 2013.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea has a new bellicose warning for foreigners, this time for those in South Korea: Get out. "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war," said an official statement from Pyongyang, per the New York Times. The North "does not want to see foreigners in South Korea fall victim to the war." South Korea, however, is largely shrugging in response. “How long are we going to repeat this vicious cycle where the North Koreans create tensions and we give them compromises and aid?” asked President Park Geun-hye today.

Most embassies in South Korea have issued no warnings, with the US embassy stating that there's no indication of "imminent threats" to Americans, Reuters reports. A South Korea tourism operator says that while "we have foreign tourists calling us to ask whether it’s safe to go to the border," tourists are heading to the DMZ nonetheless. Meanwhile, North Koreans didn't show up for work today at the Kaesong industrial complex, the BBC reports, following Pyongyang's announcement that it would pull its workers from the site. Some 475 South Koreans remain at the complex, notes Reuters, but 77 are due to leave today, the South's government says. (More Pyongyang stories.)

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