The prospect of a North Korean missile launch is "considerably high," South Korea's foreign minister told lawmakers Wednesday as Pyongyang prepared to mark the April 15 birthday of its founder, historically a time when it seeks to draw the world's attention with dramatic displays of military power. 
 
 The missile is expected to be a medium-range Musudan missile with a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles) capable of flying over Japan, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told lawmakers in Seoul. Earlier a Defense Ministry official said preparations appeared to be complete, and that the launch could take place at any time. 
 
 North Korean officials have not announced plans to launch a missile, but have told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang that it will not be able to guarantee their safety starting Wednesday. It has also urged tourists in South Korea to take cover, warning a nuclear war was imminent. Still, most diplomats and foreign residents appeared to be staying put. 
 
 Such threats are seen as rhetoric and an attempt by North Korea to scare foreigners into pressing their governments to pressure Washington and Seoul to change their policies toward Pyongyang, and to boost the military credentials of its young leader, Kim Jong Un. 
 
 On the streets of Pyongyang the focus was less on preparing for war and more on beautifying the city ahead of the nation's biggest holiday. Soldiers hammered away on construction projects, gardeners got down on their knees to plant flowers and trees, and students marched off to school, belying the high tensions. 
 
 Last year, the days surrounding the centennial of the birth of Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current ruler, was marked by parades of tanks, goose-stepping soldiers and missiles, as well as the failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket widely believed by the U.S. and its allies in the West to be a test of ballistic missile technology. A subsequent test in December went off successfully, and that was followed by the country's third underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 this year, possibly taking the regime closer to mastering the technology for mounting an atomic bomb on a missile. 
 
 The resulting U.N. sanctions and this spring's annual U.S.-South Korean military drills have been met with an unending string of threats and provocations from the North. 
 
 Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday that North Korea's persistent nuclear and missile programs and threats have created "an environment marked by the potential for miscalculation." 
 
 He said the U.S. military and its allies would be ready if North Korea tries to strike. 
 
 The Musadan is a ballistic missile, and South Korea says its launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution banning any ballistic activity by North Korea. 
 
 Despite such tidings of war, the people of Pyongyang went about their daily lives. 
 
 Associated Press journalists in the North Korean capital saw soldiers wearing hard hats rumbling past in the back of a truck as they prepared for another day's work doing construction. In recent years, military personnel have been pressed into helping build the many urban renewal projects that have been prioritized since Kim Jong Un came to power in December 2011. 
 
 In a sign they have been diverted away from preparing for conventional warfare, they are commonly referred to as "soldier-builders," and are also called upon to help plant and harvest rice and other crops in a nation that suffers from chronic food shortages. 
 
 North Korea sporadically holds civil air raid drills during which citizens practice blacking out their windows and seeking shelter. But no such drills have been held in recent months, local residents said. 
 
 "I'm not at all worried. We have confidence in our young marshal" Kim Jong Un, a cleaning lady at the Koryo Hotel said as she made up a guest's bed. "The rest of the world can just squawk all they want but we have confidence in his leadership. 
 
 "We are resolved to stay and defend him until the end," she said. "It may be hard for the rest of the world to understand, and those who are worried are welcome to leave," she said in typically nationalistic language. 
 
 But there was no sign of an exodus of foreigners from Seoul or Pyongyang. Britain and other governments with embassies in Pyongyang said they had no immediate plans to withdraw but would continue assessing the situation. 
 
 North Korea has been escalating tensions with the U.S. and South Korea, its wartime foes, for months. The tightened U.N. sanctions that followed the nuclear test drew the ire of North Korea, which accused Washington and Seoul of leading the campaign against it. Annual U.S.-South Korean military drills south of the border have further incensed Pyongyang, which sees them as practice for an invasion. 
 
 Last week, Kim Jong Un enshrined the pursuit of nuclear weapons _ which the North characterizes as a defense against the U.S. _ as a national goal, along with improving the economy. North Korea also declared it would restart a mothballed nuclear complex. 
 
 Citing the tensions with Seoul, North Korea on Monday pulled more than 50,000 workers from the Kaesong industrial park, which combines South Korean technology and know-how with cheap North Korean labor. It was the first time that production was stopped at the decade-old factory park, the only remaining symbol of economic cooperation between the Koreas. 
 
 Pyongyang also has moved to its eastern seaboard what is believed by U.S. and South Korean intelligence to be a mid-range missile capable of hitting targets in Japan, such as the U.S. military installations on that country's main island, as well as the U.S. territory of Guam. South Korean officials say North Korea will likely test-fire the missile into the sea as a display of its military prowess. 
 
 The United States and South Korea have raised their defense postures, as has Japan, which deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors in key locations around Tokyo. And Locklear said the U.S. military would be ready to strike back if provoked. 
 
 One historian, James Person, noted that it isn't the first time North Korea has warned foreign embassies to prepare for a U.S. attack. 
 
 He said that in 1968, following North Korea's seizure of an American ship, the USS Pueblo, Pyongyang persistently advised foreign diplomats to prepare for a U.S. counterattack. Cables from the Romanian mission in Pyongyang showed embassies were instructed to build anti-air bunkers "to protect foreigners against air attacks," he said. 
 
 The cables were obtained and posted online by the Wilson Center's North Korea International Documentation Project. 
 
 Person called it one of North Korea's first forays into what he dubs "military adventurism." 
 
 "In 1968, there was some concern there would be an attack, but (the North Koreans) certainly were building it up to be more than it was in hopes of getting more assistance from their allies at the time," Person said by phone from Alexandria, Virginia. 
 
 "I think much of it was hot air then. Today, I think again it's more hot air," he said. "The idea is to scare people into pressuring the United States to return to negotiations with North Korea. That's the bottom line." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Matthew Pennington, Donna Cassata and Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow AP's Korea bureau chief on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean. ||||| Story highlights North Korea "skating very close to a dangerous line," Pentagon chief says 
 
 Intelligence suggests North Korea could be planning multiple launches, U.S. official says 
 
 The U.S. believes test could occur without standard warning to aviation, shipping 
 
 Recent North Korean threats contrast with some of its other state news reports 
 
 North Korea is "skating very close to a dangerous line" after weeks of saber-rattling, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday as northeast Asia watched for an expected missile test. 
 
 "Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon. He said the United States and its allies want to see North Korean rhetoric "ratcheted down," but if that doesn't happen, "our country is fully prepared to deal with any contingency." 
 
 "We have every capacity to deal with any action North Korea will take to protect this country and the interests of this country and our allies," Hagel said. 
 
 American radar and satellites are trained on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, where the communist government of Kim Jong Un is believed to have prepared mobile ballistic missiles for launch at any time, U.S. and South Korean officials warned. 
 
 Japan has deployed missile defense systems around Tokyo, some Chinese tour groups have canceled visits to North Korea and the top U.S. commander in the Pacific said Tuesday that he couldn't recall a time of greater tension in the region since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. 
 
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 Cheney to GOP leaders: 'We're in deep doo-doo' on North Korea 
 
 Since December, North Korea has put a satellite in orbit atop a long-range rocket; conducted a nuclear bomb test, its third since 2006; and claimed to be prepared for pre-emptive nuclear attacks on the United States, though most analysts believe it does not yet have that capability. 
 
 The north has given ample warning to the world before previous long-range rocket launches -- but it is keeping everyone guessing about what it might do this time around. 
 
 Intelligence suggests that North Korea may be planning "multiple missile launches" in the coming days beyond two Musudan mobile missiles it has placed along its east coast, Pentagon officials told CNN. The officials did not have specifics on the numbers of other missiles and launchers. 
 
 One official said the North Koreans are military "masters of deception," and may have planned all along to focus the world's attention on the Musudans while they plan multiple launches of other missiles. That's a tactic they have used in the past, the official said. 
 
 The United States is less troubled about the other missiles, a second Pentagon official told CNN. 
 
 "We've been seeing some launchers moving around. These are smaller and don't cause us as much concerns," that official said. "We think these movements are within seasonal norms for their exercises." 
 
 But he didn't discount the possibility that they might launch some of those, as they often do. 
 
 The Musudan is an untested weapon that South Korea says has a range as far as 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles). That would mean it could reach as far as Guam, a Western Pacific territory that is home to U.S. naval and air bases and where the United States recently said it was placing missile defense systems. 
 
 After a launch, U.S. satellites and radars in the region would be able to calculate the trajectory of missiles within minutes and quickly conclude whether they are on a test path headed for open ocean or potentially headed for land areas such as Japan. 
 
 The United States and Japan would then have to decide whether to try to shoot the missiles down, U.S. officials say. 
 
 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday told CNN that despite being an ally of North Korea, it stands with the United States. 
 
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 "On North Korea, we have no differences with the United States. One just shouldn't scare anyone with military maneuvers and there's a chance things might calm down," he said. 
 
 U.S., North Korean officials met secretly in March 
 
 A launch without warning? 
 
 South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said at a parliamentary hearing Wednesday that "according to intelligence obtained by our side and the U.S., the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high," the semiofficial South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. 
 
 Yun said he was basing his assessment on South Korean and U.S. intelligence. 
 
 On Tuesday, a U.S. official said that the American government believes a test launch could happen at any time and without North Korea issuing a standard notice to commercial aviation and maritime shipping that would warn planes and vessels to stay away from the missile's path. 
 
 The official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the information, cautioned that most of the information comes from satellite imagery, so it's impossible to reach a definitive conclusion because the United States cannot gather information on the ground. 
 
 He said the launch could be "imminent" but also cautioned that the United States "simply doesn't know." Based on what the United States has seen, the belief is that the missiles have received their liquid fuel and are ready for launch. 
 
 Speaking at a Senate Armed Services hearing Tuesday, Locklear said the U.S. military would not want to shoot down a North Korean missile whose trajectory would send it into the open sea. But he said if a missile's path appeared to threaten a U.S. ally, such as Japan, interceptor missiles could be used to try to bring it down. 
 
 Japan poised to react 'calmly' 
 
 Japan's deployment of missile defenses in Tokyo follows similar measures taken ahead of the North's rocket launches last year. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Tuesday that his government would do "calmly" whatever needed to be done to protect its population. 
 
 In a sign of the level of concern, however, the port city of Yokohama had to apologize for prematurely publishing a warning of a missile launch on the Twitter page of its emergency management agency. The tweet was up for about 20 minutes before being removed. 
 
 The agency said that the misleading tweet was caused by human error and that it would work on changing its system to prevent the problem from happening again. 
 
 Since the U.N. Security Council voted last month to impose new sanctions on Kim's regime over the latest North Korean nuclear test, Pyongyang has kept up a steady flow of words and acts that could give the impression of a nation heading inexorably toward conflict. 
 
 On Tuesday, it advised foreigners in South Korea to secure shelter or evacuate the country in case of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, the latest in a string of ominous warnings. 
 
 It also kept more than 50,000 of its workers from an industrial complex jointly operated with South Korea, which had been a key symbol of cooperation between the two countries. 
 
 North Korea's war of words escalates: A timeline of the crisis 
 
 'Holiday atmosphere' inside North Korea 
 
 But on the same day, state media published articles that described festive events and international visits, suggesting a much less fraught situation inside North Korea. 
 
 The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that various sporting events were happening or scheduled to take place to mark the 101st anniversary next week of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and the grandfather of Kim Jong Un. 
 
 "The ongoing sports tournaments make the country seethe with holiday atmosphere," KCNA said. Kim Il Sung's birthday, known as the Day of the Sun, is a major public holiday in North Korea. 
 
 The planned events include an international marathon Sunday in Pyongyang in which runners from North Korea and other countries will participate. KCNA also noted Tuesday the arrival by plane in North Korea of a delegation from the Japan-Korea Society for Scientific and Educational Interchange. 
 
 Such visits sit strangely alongside the North's warning last week to foreign diplomats in Pyongyang that it wouldn't be able to guarantee their safety in the event of a conflict. 
 
 Some North Korea watchers have observed that the regime's domestic propaganda has focused recently on efforts to promote economic development, while the bellicose threats appear targeted primarily at a foreign audience. 
 
 North Korea's missile capabilities 
 
 Varying levels of concern 
 
 The angry rhetoric has also failed to alarm South Koreans, who have lived through decades of North Korean bombast. Residents of Seoul have continued to go unflappably about their daily business. 
 
 "South Korea has been living under such threats from the past, and we are always prepared for it," South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told CNN on Wednesday. He called the current climate "a very ordinary situation." 
 
 "North Korea may launch missiles at any time, and our military is fully prepared for it," he said. 
 
 But the North's fiery words appear to have had an effect on the American public, with 41% of those surveyed saying they see the reclusive nation as an immediate threat to the United States, according to a recent CNN/ORC International poll. 
 
 That's up 13 percentage points in less than a month, CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. 
 
 "If North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to get the attention of the American public, his strategy is starting to work," Holland said. 
 
 Andrei Lankov, a professor of history at Kookmin University in Seoul, noted the varying levels of concern in an opinion article for The New York Times published Tuesday. 
 
 "The farther one is from the Korean Peninsula, the more one will find people worried about the recent developments here," he said. 
 
 The tense situation does appear to have prompted some Chinese tour groups to call off upcoming trips to North Korea. 
 
 Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday that some agencies and tourists had canceled plans, but he said the Chinese-North Korean border continued to operate normally. 
 
 Western tourism agencies that organize visits to North Korea haven't so far reported any changes to their activities. 
 
 DMZ: Tensions high at knife-edge of Korean conflict 
 
 A troubled industrial zone 
 
 The most tangible signs of disruption are in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the manufacturing zone on the North Korean side of the border where more than 120 South Korean companies operate. 
 
 Last week, the North started blocking South Korean personnel from crossing the border back into the complex. And this week, it said it was pulling out the more than 50,000 North Koreans who work inside the zone and temporarily suspending activities there. 
 
 It had blocked the border crossing previously, in 2009, but pulling out the workers was a new step. 
 
 As of Wednesday lunchtime, only a few hundred South Koreans remained inside the complex, according to South Korean authorities, down from more than 800 before the North started restricting entry. 
 
 Also on Wednesday, South Korea accused the North of carrying out a wave of cyberattacks that paralyzed the networks of major South Korean banks and broadcasters last month. It is the first time that Seoul has formally pointed the finger at Pyongyang for the hacking, which affected more than 48,000 computers. ||||| Updated 2:00 p.m. Eastern 
 
 WASHINGTON U.S. defenses could intercept a ballistic missile launched by North Korea, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said Tuesday, as the relationship between the West and the communist government hit its lowest ebb since the end of the Korean War. 
 
 Nuclear threats against the U.S. 
 
 Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un, the country's young and still relatively untested new leader, has used the past year to consolidate his power. 
 
 The admiral said Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles represents a clear threat to the United States and its allies in the region. 
 
 During an exchange with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Locklear said the U.S. military has the capability to thwart a North Korean strike, but he said a decision on whether a missile should be intercepted should be based on where it is aimed and expected to land. 
 
 "I believe we have the ability to defend the homeland, Guam, Hawaii and defend our allies," said Locklear, who added that it wouldn't take long to determine where a missile would strike. 
 
 Missile Map North Korea 
 
 Locklear concurred with McCain's assessment that the tension between North Korea and the West was the worst since the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s. But the admiral insisted that the U.S. military and its allies would be ready if North Korea tried to strike. 
 
 "We're ready," Locklear said. 
 
 He said North Korea is keeping a large percentage of its combat forces along the demilitarized zone with South Korea, a position that allows the North to threaten U.S. and South Korean civilian and military personnel. 
 
 Locklear told the panel, "The continued advancement of the North's nuclear and missile programs, its conventional force posture and its willingness to resort to asymmetric actions as a tool of coercive diplomacy creates an environment marked by the potential for miscalculation. ..." 
 
 North Korea warns foreigners to leave South Korea 
 
 Increasingly bellicose rhetoric has come from Pyongyang and its leader, with North Korea urging foreign companies and tourists to leave South Korea and warning that the countries are on the verge of a nuclear war. 
 
 The U.S. embassy in Seoul tells CBS News its security status is unchanged, despite Tuesday's warning. It says it's not telling Americans to evacuate, and Secretary of State John Kerry is still scheduled to visit Friday, reports CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan. 
 
 Still, North Korea's earlier warning that it won't be able to guarantee the safety of foreign diplomats after April 10 has raised fears that it will conduct a missile or nuclear test on Wednesday, resulting in U.S. retaliation. South Korea's military has reported missile movements on North Korea's east coast but nothing pointed toward South Korea. 
 
 But, as Brennan reports, North Korea has not filed the customary Notice to Airmen - a procedure it usually takes before a test - leading to further uncertainty about whether they will follow through on their threats. 
 
 Tensions escalate on Korean peninsula 
 
 At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney brushed off the North's declaration that nuclear war was imminent as "more unhelpful rhetoric" and part of a pattern of combative statements and behavior that Pyongyang's leadership has demonstrated for years. He said the U.S. was working with Seoul and Tokyo on the issue. 
 
 "It is unhelpful, it is concerning, it is provocative," Carney said. 
 
 Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Locklear that the North Korean government's threats "appear to exceed its capabilities, and its use of what capabilities it has against the U.S. or our allies seems highly unlikely and would be completely contrary to the regime's primary goal of survival." 
 
 "Nonetheless, its words and actions are not without consequences," Levin said. 
 
 The Democrat questioned the Obama administration's decision to delay a long-scheduled operational test of an intercontinental ballistic missile amid the North Korea rhetoric. 
 
 Locklear said he agreed with the decision to delay the test. 
 
 "We have demonstrated to the people of the region, demonstrated to the leadership of North Korea, our ability and willingness to defend our nation, our people, our allies and our forward deployed forces," Locklear said, citing other steps the U.S. military has taken in recent weeks. 
 
 The U.S. has moved two of the Navy's missile-defense ships closer to the Korean peninsula, and a land-based system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam. The U.S. also called attention to the annual U.S.-South Korean military exercise that included a practice run over South Korea by B-2 stealth bombers. 
 
 Levin mentioned that President Barack Obama recently talked to China's new president, Xi Jinping, about the U.S. efforts to deal with North Korea. Locklear said he has not had similar conversations with his Chinese counterparts. 
 
 In an exchange with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, Locklear acknowledged a hotline connection between Washington and Beijing similar to what existed with Moscow during the Cold War, and said both sides need to move forward in continuing conversations. 
 
 Locklear told Levin that he would explore the possibility of making direct contact with his military counterparts in China and communicate with them the seriousness of the situation on the Korean peninsula. 
 
 Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., insisted that North Korea's nuclear program could come to a "grinding halt" if China pressured Pyongyang. 
 
 Reflecting the uneasy relationship, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Locklear if he considers China a "friend or a foe." Locklear said neither. 
 
 "I consider (China), at this point in time, someone we have to develop a strategic partnership with to manage competition between two world powers," Locklear said. 
 
 Who is Kim Jong Un? 
 
 Locklear said Kim Jong Un has adopted pages from the playbook used by his father, Kim Jong Il, but his approach differs in a significant way. Kim Jong Un's father, as well as his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, made sure they had "off ramps" that gave them a way to exit a confrontation, particularly if the U.S. and its allies were willing to offer concessions. Kim Jong Un, Locklear said, appears not to have given himself channels that would help him ratchet down the tensions. 
 
 The admiral described Kim Jong Un as "an impetuous young leader (who) continues to focus on provocation rather than on his own people." 
 
 The scope of Locklear's responsibilities as the top officer at Pacific Command extend beyond the Korean peninsula, and he told the committee that his command is closely watching the proliferation of submarines among countries including China and Vietnam. Locklear said there are an estimated 300 submarines being operated around the world, although he noted that no country there has an undersea force as capable as the United States'. 
 
 Both Russia and China are expected soon to deploy new ballistic missile submarines capable of threatening the United States, Locklear said. India is also expanding its submarine force, and Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and South Korea have launched, or soon will, modern submarines. ||||| SEOUL/WASHINGTON South Korea said on Wednesday there was a "very high" probability that North Korea, after weeks of threats of war, would test-launch a medium-range missile at any time as a show of strength. 
 
 Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said South Korea had asked China and Russia to intercede with the North to ease tension that has mounted since the U.N. Security Council imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea after its third nuclear arms test in February. 
 
 In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said North Korea was "skating very close to a dangerous line" with its threats and provocations, and warned the United States was prepared to respond to any moves by Pyongyang. 
 
 "We have every capacity to deal with any action that North Korea would take, to protect this country and the interests of this country and our allies," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon. 
 
 Most observers say Pyongyang has no intention of igniting a conflict that could bring its own destruction but warn of the risks of miscalculation on the highly-militarized Korean peninsula. 
 
 All was calm in the South Korean capital Seoul, long used to North Korean invective under its 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un. Offices worked normally and customers crowded into city-centre cafes. 
 
 Seoul stocks edged up 0.77 percent from a four-and-a-half-month low hit earlier in the week, though trading was light with threats from the North still clouding the picture. The won currency gained 0.3 percent. 
 
 Other officials in Seoul said surveillance of North Korean activity had been enhanced. Missile transporters had been spotted in South Hamgyong province along North Korea's east coast - a possible site for a launch. 
 
 North Korea observes several anniversaries in the next few days and they could be pretexts for displays of military strength. These include the first anniversary of Kim's formal ascent to power, the 20th anniversary of rule by his father, Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011, and Monday's anniversary of the birth of the young Kim's grandfather, state founder Kim Il-Sung. 
 
 The near-daily threats to South Korea and the United States of recent weeks were muted in the North's state media on Wednesday, with the focus largely on the upcoming festivities. 
 
 State television showed mass gatherings, including women in traditional flowing robes, listening to addresses, laying flowers at monuments and taking part in a culinary competition. 
 
 The North's KCNA news agency said people were "doing their best to decorate cities." Another dispatch reported a "production upsurge" in the coal, steel, iron and timber industries, with figures showing a quarterly plan set by authorities had been "overfulfilled." 
 
 Admiral Samuel Locklear, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific region, said on Tuesday the U.S. military believed North Korea had moved an unspecified number of Musudan missiles to its east coast. 
 
 The trajectory of the missile, if launched, is unclear as the North has failed to inform international bodies - as it did in previous instances - of the path it is expected to take. But it is unlikely to be aimed directly at the South. 
 
 The Musudan has a range of 3,500 km (2,100 miles) or more, according to South Korea, which would put Japan within range and may even threaten Guam, home to U.S. bases. South Korea can be reached by the North's short-range Scud missiles. 
 
 LAUNCH POSSIBLE "AT ANY TIME" 
 
 Foreign Minister Yun told a parliamentary hearing: "According to intelligence obtained by our side and the U.S., the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high." 
 
 North Korea, he said, could launch a Musudan missile "at any time from now." 
 
 The U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command in Seoul raised its "Watchcon 3" status, a normal condition, by one level to boost monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official told the South's Yonhap news agency. 
 
 Yonhap also reported that South Korea, which has not joined a U.S.-led global missile defense system, was planning to develop a system of its own. It quoted an unidentified senior military official as saying this would involve early warning radars, ship-to-air and land-based systems, to be used in conjunction with U.S. early warning satellites. 
 
 Patricia Lewis, research director at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, said that strictly on the basis of the North's vast conventional forces, caution was required. 
 
 "The conventional military capabilities of North Korea are all too real and all too close to Seoul," she wrote in a paper. "Any incursion could escalate involving the U.S. and Japan, China, perhaps Russia and others." 
 
 The North has tested short-range Scud missiles. The longer-range Musudan and Nodong missiles are an unknown quantity. 
 
 "If the missile was in defense of the homeland, I would certainly recommend that action (of intercepting it). And if it was defense of our allies, I would recommend that action," Locklear told a Senate hearing in Washington. 
 
 Pyongyang has threatened a nuclear strike on the United States - something it does not have the capacity to carry out - and "war" with "puppet" South Korea - threats that appear to be aimed at least in part at boosting internal support for Kim. 
 
 U.S. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to answer a question about how close he believed North Korea was to being able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon, a necessary step to being able to place one on a missile. He said that information was classified. 
 
 But Dempsey didn't rule out the possibility entirely and, in an apparent acknowledgement of the limits of U.S. intelligence on North Korea, said Washington had to prepare for the worst. 
 
 "They have conducted two nuclear tests. They have conducted several successful ballistic missile launches," Dempsey said, sitting alongside Hagel, at a Pentagon news conference. 
 
 "And in the absence of concrete evidence to the contrary, we have to assume the worst case, and that's why we're postured as we are today." 
 
 MILITARY EXERCISES 
 
 The North is also angry about weeks of joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises. About 28,000 U.S. forces are permanently based in South Korea. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Seoul this week. 
 
 On Tuesday, the North told foreigners in South Korea to leave to avoid being dragged into a "thermonuclear war." It previously warned diplomats in Pyongyang to prepare to leave. 
 
 The European Union told North Korea on Wednesday the increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula did not justify pulling out EU states' diplomats. 
 
 Yun said he was coordinating with China and Russia "to make efforts to persuade North Korea to change its attitude." 
 
 China is North Korea's sole major ally, although its influence over Pyongyang is open to question and Beijing has, in any event, endorsed the new sanctions. Moscow backed North Korea in Soviet times, though its influence has waned. 
 
 "There is no disagreement with the United States over North Korea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei 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 maneuvers," he was quoted as saying. "There is a chance everything will calm down." 
 
 A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a fresh appeal for restraint and said nothing about any possible effort to bring about a change in the North's policy. 
 
 In China's northeast region of Dandong, tour operators said they had been told by authorities to halt overland tourism to North Korea and some tourists were turned away. Other tours, including those involving air travel, were operating as usual. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Christine Kim and by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Max Duncan in Dandong and David Alexander in Washington; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Andrew Roche and Cynthia Osterman)
– North Korea threatening imminent thermonuclear war? Must be Wednesday. "According to intelligence obtained by our side and the US, the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high," South Korea's foreign minister said today, while CNN reports that a US official says Pyongyang could in fact be planning multiple strikes. South Korea is taking the threats seriously, increasing surveillance and engaging in diplomacy efforts via China and Russia. Japan has already responded by deploying missile interceptors, and the region's US commander has said it is also capable of thwarting a launch, reports CBS. "I believe we have the ability to defend the homeland, Guam, Hawaii, and defend our allies," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Musudan missiles installed by Pyongyang are potentially within range of US military bases in Japan and Guam. But despite the very real probability that North Korea will launch a missile soon, everyday life goes on in Seoul, where citizens have long adjusted to its threats, reports Reuters. Likewise, signs of war are absent from the streets of Pyongyang, where soldiers continue to work on urban renewal projects and there hasn't been an air raid drill in months, the AP reports.