S. Korea: North Is Readying Missile Launch for Wed.

South Korea is warning today that Pyongyang's latest sabre-rattling amounts to the very real threat of a missile launch, likely around Wednesday, reports the New York Times. The South's director of national security said today that the North had warned foreign diplomats to seek assistance in evacuating by Wednesday should they be worried by escalating tensions; that comes on the heels of a similar warning in the Kaesong border industrial complex, where the North blocked Southern workers today for a fifth day, shuttering some 13 factories.

“We believe this is a calculated move by the North,” said Kim Jang-soo, intended to bully the US into making concessions. Seoul signaled that the missiles North Korea moved Thursday were the Musudan, notes the AP, which in their new location could hit US bases in Guam. "If limited war is to break out, North Korea should bear in mind that it will receive damages many times over," warned a presidential spokeswoman, according to CNN. Seoul today further hunkered down by cancelling a trip to the US by its top military officer. (More South Korea stories.)