Lavrov says Russia agrees with U.S. on N.Korea, hopes for calm

        
South Korea said on Wednesday it has asked China, North Korea's only major ally, to rein in the hermit state and has raised its surveillance after the North moved at least one long-range missile in readiness for a possible launch.                                  

Admiral Samuel Locklear, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific region, said the U.S. military believed North Korea had moved an unspecified number of Musudan missiles to its east coast.                                 
The North has been threatening the United States and its "puppet" South Korea on an almost a daily basis in recent weeks, although the threats appear to be aimed partly at boosting internal support for young leader Kim Jong-un.                                     

The Combined Forces Command in Seoul raised its "Watchcon 3" status, a normal defense condition, by one level in order to step up monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official told the Yonhap news agency in the South on Wednesday.                                           

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a parliamentary hearing in Seoul that he was working through diplomatic channels in an attempt to rein in Pyongyang.             
                          
China is North Korea's sole major ally, although it backed recent United Nations resolutions against Pyongyang, and Moscow was a supporter of North Korea as the Soviet Union.          

UNKNOWN QUANTITY            

Pyongyang has frequently tested short-range Scud missiles but the longer-range Musudan and Nodong missiles are an unknown quantity. The Musudan missiles are reckoned to have a range of roughly 3,000-3,500 km (1,865-2,175 miles).              

On Tuesday, it told foreigners in South Korea to leave the country to avoid being dragged into a "thermonuclear war". It previously warned diplomats in Pyongyang to prepare to leave.              

In this regard, the European Union told North Korea on Wednesday that the situation on the ground did not justify evacuating EU member states' diplomats despite increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula.               
Sweden gave this message to the North Korean foreign ministry in Pyongyang in response to a warning by North Korea last week that it could not guarantee the safety of diplomats after April 10, an EU spokeswoman said.              

"Despite current tensions, which (North Korea) deliberately attempts to increase through aggressive rhetoric, we judge that the situation on the ground does not justify evacuation or re-location of EU member states' diplomatic missions," either in North or South Korea, the spokeswoman said, urging North Korea to "refrain from further provocative declarations or actions."                           

Positions:         

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow agrees with Washington's stance on North Korea but warned that any military moves could hamper chances to calm tensions in the Korean peninsula, the Interfax news agency reported.             

"There is no disagreement with the United States over North Korea," Lavrov said at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in London, where G8 foreign ministers are to hold talks.              

"One should not frighten anybody with military manoeuvres," he was quoted as saying, apparently referring in part to past military exercises by the United States and North Korea. "There is a chance everything will calm down."


REUTERS