US plays down N Korea threat

US officials yesterday played down the threat of war on the Korean peninsula, after weeks of bellicose statements from Pyongyang.
A White House spokesman said the US "would not be surprised" if North Korea launched a missile, while a top US military officer said recent threats appeared to fit a familiar pattern.
Pyongyang has threatened to attack both US and South Korean targets.
It has told foreign embassies it cannot guarantee their safety in a conflict. Diplomats in Pyongyang were asked on Friday to tell the foreign ministry by 10 April what help they would need in evacuating.
Despite the threat, foreign diplomats in North Korea appeared to be staying put.
Most of their governments made it clear they had 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.
In South Korea, a government official was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying that diplomats would ignore the North's appeal to leave.
The embassy warning on Friday coincided with reports that North Korea had loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast.
They were reported to be untested Musudan missiles which are believed to have a range of around 3,000 kilometres that could theoretically be pushed to 4,000 kilometres 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.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday that Washington "would not be surprised" by a missile test, which would fit the North's "current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric and actions".
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.
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.
Nevertheless, the international community is becoming increasingly skittish that, with tensions showing no sign of de-escalating, there is a real risk of the situation spiralling out of control.