North Korea: Japan Deploys Missile Defence

Japan has deployed missile-defence systems in key locations around Tokyo as North Korea warned foreigners in the South to take evacuation measures in case of war.

The Patriot missile batteries were set up in the defence ministry headquarters and in two suburbs of the Japanese capital, officials said.

Tokyo also reportedly has warships with missile interception systems on alert in the Sea of Japan.

North Korea's latest warning to foreigners in the South came after it told embassies in Pyongyang it could not guarantee their safety.

"We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war," the KCNA news agency reported, citing a spokesperson for the Korea Asia-Pacific PePPeace Committee.

North Korea has also suspended its operations at the Kaesong industrial complex, its last major economic link with the South, and recalled all 53,000 of its workers.

A Musudan missile, pictured in 2010

The work stoppage at a key source of hard cash for the North suggests Pyongyang is willing to hurt its own shaky economy in order to display its anger with South Korea and the US.

Amid rising tensions on the peninsula, the US and South Korea have also raised their defence postures.

North Korea is believed to have moved two missiles - possibly the medium-range Musudan - to its eastern coast on the  Sea of Japan, loading them on to mobile launchers.

The  Musudan missile has a range of about 3,000km (1,800 miles), meaning it is capable of reaching South Korea and Japan and perhaps also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-Un, is seen as unpredictable

There has been speculation that Pyongyang might schedule a missile launch to coincide with the birthday of the country's late founder Kim Il-Sung in mid-April.

But US and South Korean defence officials have said they have seen nothing to indicate that Pyongyang is preparing for a major military action, in which it would be heavily outgunned.

 Foreign Secretary William Hague, though, has said the threat posed by North Korea must be treated "very seriously" and the US has delayed the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in an effort to defuse the situation.

North Korea is furious at UN sanctions imposed after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in February, and at joint military exercises between the US and South Korea.

Seoul and Washington say those exercises are routine but Pyongyang has unleashed a torrent of threats against the allies.

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