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North Korea has told foreign embassies in Pyongyang to consider evacuating their employees because it cannot guarantee their safety in the event of conflict after Sunday, BBC reports.
Russia and the UK said there were no outward signs of tension in the North Korean capital, and that it is not planning to evacuate at this stage.
South Korean news agency Yonhap reports that the 53,000 North Korean workers employed in the Kaesong industrial complex — a South-financed project that accounts for up to 40 percent of the North's revenue — did not show up for work on April 5.
VOA News notes that the complex was closed Friday for a national holiday.
North Korea has blocked South Korean workers from entering the zone for the last three days, and told South Korean companies to pull all of their workers out by April 10. The complex is considered the last lifeline between the two Koreas.
Yonhap also reports, citing South Korean military sources, that North Korea has loaded two intermediate-range missiles onto mobile launchers at an unidentified facility near its east coast.
The U.S. territory of Guam is in range, as are South Korea and Japan. America has sent two warships to the area in preparation for a potential ballistic missile launch.
Asia News International reports that North Korea asked China to send them a high-ranking envoy in order to improve relations, but China has rejected the plea.
The rejection is the second sign — after agreeing to stiffer sanctions against the North last month — that China is losing patience with its neighbor and proxy.
That may be because a 1967 treaty says China must "render military and other assistance by all means at its disposal" in the event North Korea comes under "armed attack by any state."
There have also been reports of Chinese troops amassing at the border to prepare to potentially secure North Korea's nuclear sites in the case of a conflict.
North Korea's warmongering has been escalating for about six weeks now.
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