North Korean authorities told diplomatic missions they could not guarantee their safety

North Korean authorities told diplomatic missions they could not guarantee their safety from next Wednesday after declaring that conflict was inevitable amid joint US-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month.

Whatever the atmosphere in Pyongyang, the rain-soaked South Korean capital, Seoul, was calm. Traffic moved normally through the city centre, busy with Saturday shoppers.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying diplomats were disregarding the suggestion they might leave the country.

North Korea has been angry since new UN sanctions were imposed following its third nuclear weapons test in February. Its rage has apparently been compounded by joint US-South Korean military exercises that began on March 1.

China’s Xinhua news agency on Friday had quoted the North’s Foreign Ministry as saying the issue was no longer whether but when a war would break out.

Most countries saw the appeal to the missions as little more than strident rhetoric after weeks of threatening to launch a nuclear strike on the United States and declarations of war against the South.

But Russia said it was “seriously studying” the request. A South Korean government official expressed bewilderment. “It’s hard to define what is its real intention,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

The United Nations said its humanitarian workers remained active across North Korea.

The appeal to diplomats followed news reports in the South that North Korea, under its 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un, had moved two medium-range missiles to a location on its east coast.

That prompted the White House to say that Washington would “not be surprised” if the North staged another missile test.

North Korea has always condemned the exercises held by US forces and their South Korean allies. But its comments have been especially vitriolic this year as the United States dispatched B-2 bombers from its home bases to stage mock runs.