US forces and South Korea raise surveillance alert level
South Korean and US forces in the country went on surveillance alert Wednesday, one level before wartime, out of concern that North Korea is about to conduct a medium-range missile test. At least one untested missile is fueled and ready for launch.
DEBKAfile: Wednesday, April 10, marks the day on which North Korea has undertaken to fire a ballistic missile to the Pacific without naming a target. It is also the deadline Pyongyang gave foreign embassies to remove their staff for their own safety. Tuesday, Pyongyang urged “all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners including tourists” in South Korea to “take measures for shelter and evacuation”. It added: “The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermo-nuclear war due to the evermore undisguised hostile actions of the United States and the South Korean puppet warmongers.” Around 1.4 million foreigners live in the South. Japan ranged Patriot anti-missile missiles in Tokyo at defense ministry headquarters and other key locations, including Okinawa.