S. Korea, US on missile watch as North praises Kim dynasty

Reuters: South Korea and the United States were on high alert for a North Korean missile launch on Thursday as the hermit kingdom turned its attention to celebrating its ruling Kim dynasty and appeared to tone down rhetoric of impending war.

Despite threats it will attack the US bases and the South in response to any hostile acts, North Korea started to welcome a stream of visitors for Monday’s birthday celebrations of its founding father, Kim Il-sung.

North Korea has stationed as many as five medium-range missiles on its east coast, according to defence assessments made by Washington and Seoul, possibly in readiness for a test launch that would demonstrate its ability to hit the US bases on Guam.

“There are signs the North could fire off Musudan missiles any time soon,” an unnamed intelligence source in Seoul told Yonhap news agency. Musudan missiles are medium range missiles that have the potential to hit US bases on Guam, although it is not known whether they have been tested.

“But the North has been repeatedly moving its missiles in and out of a shed, which needs close monitoring.”

Most observers say Pyongyang has no intention of igniting a conflict that could bring its own destruction but warn of the risks of miscalculation on the highly militarised Korean peninsula.

There did not appear to be any signs of panic in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and financial markets appeared to shrug off the risk of conflict with stocks posting a third day of gains.

Taiwan appeared to become the first country to warn its citizens against travelling to South Korea after a warning from Pyongyang that foreigners should leave, but hotels were reporting brisk business.

Pyongyang issued a statement that appeared to be tinged with regret over the closure of the joint Kaesong industrial zone that was shuttered when it ordered its workers out this week, terming the North-South Korean venture “The pinnacle of General Kim Jong-il’s limitless love for his people and brothers.”

The statement on the country’s KCNA news agency blamed South Korean President Park Geun-hye for bringing the money-spinning venture to ‘the brink of shutting down’.

Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung’s son, ruled North Korea until his death in December 2011. He was succeeded by Kim Jong-un, the third of his line to preside over one of the world’s poorest and most heavily militarised countries.

Since taking office, the 30-year-old has staged two long- range rocket launches and a nuclear weapons test.

The nuclear test in February triggered UN sanctions that Pyongyang has termed a hostile act and a precursor to invasion.

For over a month, Pyongyang has issued an almost daily series of threats to the United States and South Korea, most recently warning foreigners to leave the South due to an impending ‘thermonuclear’ war.