both Russia and the United Kingdom that it can
no longer guarantee the safety of diplomats stationed in
Pyongyang, part of a battery of war rhetoric coming from the
totalitarian country in the last several weeks.
Nevertheless, neither Russia nor the UK have any immediate plans to
evacuate their embassies, although David Cameron, the British prime
minister, said yesterday he was
“very concerned” by North Korean missiles, which he suggested
could make it to the United States or Europe, based apparently on
what the North Korean government says.  
South Korea says the North is moving medium-range missiles
to the Pacific shore of the country, and the United States
announced plans to send a missile defense system to Guam. The
White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said today it would
not be a surprise if North Korea were to conduct new missile
tests. The Obama Administration may even be
looking at a strengthening of U.S.-China relations because of
the mutual hassle North Korea presents. The BBC, meanwhile,
reports that in Seoul, the South Korean capital, residents
remain unimpressed by the North Korean threat, citing “security
fatigue” and a prevailing opinion that North Korean saber rattling
is intended to shore up bargaining chips in future negotiations for
food or fuel.
While the West’s response has so far been cautiously muted, the
non-state actor Anonymous says
it’s been hacking the North Korean government’s social networks
(it has several), and in fact
posted the picture to the right to the government’s official
flickr account. No response as yet from the regime to those
actions.
