North Korea tells Britain to evacuate embassy

why the 10th ?

As if events in Pyongyang could not get any stranger, North Korea has been reduced to begging China for a diplomat — and begging Russia to remove theirs. In an attempt to produce the appearance of an escalation, the Kim regime asked Russia to evacuate their embassy in Pyonyang to demonstrate a rise in tensions in the capital that, er, the Russian seem to have missed:

North Korea asked Russia on Friday to consider evacuating staff from its embassy in Pyongyang because of increasing tension on the Korean peninsula, a spokesman for the embassy said by phone from Pyongyang.

Denis Samsonov said Russia was examining the request but was not planning an evacuation at this stage, and there were no outward signs of increased tension in the North Korean capital itself.

He said other foreign embassies had received similar requests.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry representative ”proposed that the Russian side consider the issue of the evacuation of employees in connection with the increasingly tense situation”, Samsonov said.
While the DPRK tried to stage a diplomatic evacuation on one hand for show, they had also become concerned over a real diplomatic breach with China, their only real tie to the rest of the world. China has begun moving significant military resources to the border, perhaps worried that a collapse will set loose a flood of refugees, but also perhaps to remind the Kim regime of their patronage and its finite patience. They sent an unmistakable signal yesterday in refusing to send a special envoy to patch up any misunderstandings:

China has also continued to move tanks and armored vehicles whilst flying flights near North Korea this week as part of a military build-up in the northeastern part of the country that U.S. officials say is related to the crisis with North Korea.

In a dramatic twist yesterday, China reportedly rejected a request from the North to send them an envoy in order to improve their soured relations, in what could be seen as a warning regarding the regime’s recent warmongering rhetoric.
Yesterday, I noted a certain freedom in Beijing that suddenly allowed people to openly criticize North Korea, and China’s relationship with its regime. This is an even clearer signal to Kim Jong-un and his military leadership that Beijing has run out of patience with their nutty brinksmanship, and that they are rapidly approaching the point where China will cease protecting their interests.

Rationally speaking, China’s relationship with the US and South Korea is much more important for their economic development. North Korea is only useful to keep the US off balance in the Pacific Rim, and even that strategy seems outdated. As commenters noted yesterday, it may now be in China’s interest to allow a reunification on Seoul’s terms that would keep them economically occupied for the next several decades, and which would eliminate any reason for the continued US military presence in the region. The Kim regime’s irrationality may have provided the inertia needed for China to take a clear look at the circumstances of the present rather than just assume the Cold War strategy of the past. And that’s bad news for hereditary dictators who like to dress up in Grandpa’s clothes.

and Polish Embassy too.

Foreign embassies have always been a route for spying. Particularly in a place like North Korea, where as one top level US official put it, it's practically "impossible" to infiltrate spies on the ground. Evacuating the embassies will close off a source of intelligence of what's going on in Pyongyang.

i hope they save the Ferrero Rochers!

Can you imagine if in a few months there's one Korea, united under the South?

That country that's been living in the dark ages for decades finally rejoins the international community?

It'd be like East and West Germany times a million.

Link?

NK is running out of moves, my guess is this is just another act of posturing. "Hey you better get out before the kimchi hits the fan!" I'm sure the UK & Russian ambassadors would LOVE to get out of there.

dont think china will allow that

They might not, but they might. China is not wholly opposed to capitalism in the region, and NK at this point is nearly as much of a nuciance to them as they are to the US.

[link to wiadomosci.onet.pl]

This doom moves so slowwwwww. They have 5 days to get out before they're "not safe"? Is that 5 more days with no doom?

What a lot of cobblers. In fact if you read the article and watch the news it's either that they asked if they wanted to leave or suggested they might want to leave.
Neither is telling them to leave!
Sheesh...

Perhaps China is egging them on and will use them as "useful idiots" in order to engage the U.S. Not like we are paying our debts or anything right now... China has got to be getting mad that we won't pay our loans back to them.

Youthful dear leader puppet. Hmm, sounds familiar.

The puppet masters have two hands to play it out.

I know NK has made threats for years but the kid has me worried this time. He's so young and immature. He has backed himself into a corner. We don't know if he's bluffing because he's a new leader. He's gotten rid of the older military leadership...
I think he's gonna do SOMETHING. I hope for everyone's sake that its something small.

^ agreed


none of us know how this will play out

China is fully engaged with capitalism...has been from the early 80's and is behind the collapse of the communist bloc, having early abandoned that bloc in a shift to the capitalis West.

NK is a remnant of that old bloc. To a large extent, what you see in NK is nationalism with a ruling family despite the pretext of being communist. NK is as much communist as is China. These countries long ago lost the plot. NK unfortunately has also fallen into a state of extreme dysfunction and is, I suspect, on the brink of being absorbed by both China and SK.

The North Koreans say they won't be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy personnel after the 10th.
This is probably a ruse.
Why would you give the enemy a timetable of your actions?
Doesn't make sense.
Reckon they will probably attack before the 10th of April.

Let's hope and pray that Lil fat Kim will not be used by the global players to depopulate earth.

Amenj

and when the 5 days are up they will say it will come in another 5 days. This doom is taking forever to happen

what IF this is all about Baekdu?

in as few words as possible..

The Master plan is to reduce the population. War does that.
Somebody starts it (magnolia tree), then the rest come in and clean us all up.

I think we are assuming that NK is giving these dates. perhaps they are being issued an ultimatum and expect to get hit on that date