North Korea on Tuesday urged foreigners living in South Korea to consider evacuating, saying there was a risk of “thermo-nuclear war” breaking out on the Korean peninsula.

The warning followed a similar evacuation advisory the North gave Friday to foreign embassies in Pyongyang, saying it could not ensure the safety of their personnel if war broke out.

“The situation on the Korean peninsula is heading for a thermo-nuclear war,” said Tuesday’s statement which was attributed to the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.

“In the event of war, we don’t want foreigners living in South Korea to get hurt,” said the statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
It urged “all foreign organisations, companies and tourists to work out measures for evacuation”.

After last week’s embassy warning, most governments involved made it clear they had no immediate plans to withdraw personnel from their Pyongyang missions and some suggested the advisory was a ruse to fuel growing global anxiety over the current crisis on the Korean peninsula.