Despite North Korea’s nuclear sabre-rattling and pronouncement of a “state of war” with South Korea, India has said there is little possibility of any hostilities breaking out in the Korean Peninsula.
As tensions continued to be ratcheted up by Pyongyang, the Indian embassy in Seoul has been getting a large number of queries on the situation in South Korea. In an advisory released on Monday, the Indian embassy announced that while it has been monitoring the developments on a real-time basis, “from all available indications, there is little likelihood of any imminent or active hostilities breaking out in the Korean peninsula”. “As of now everything is normal. Government offices, financial institutions, airlines, hospitality industry, businesses, schools and colleges, as well as, foreign missions are functioning smoothly, as usual,” said the advisory.
North Korea has been threatening pre-emptive strikes against Seoul, since the United States and South Korea began annual two-month-long military exercises. On Sunday, US flew two F-22 stealth fighters from their base in Japan to South Korea to join the military exercise.
On Monday, new South Korean president Park Geun-hye instructed her forces to react strongly to any North Korean provocation, after Pyongyang announced that it was now in a “state of war”. The Indian embassy said all its personnel and family members were in Seoul, “leading a normal life and following their regular routine”.
It noted that if there were “any adverse development”, the embassy would immediately alert the Indian community there.