Chinese put-down for N Korea war threats

China "deplored" tension on the Korean peninsula yesterday and, in what is being taken as reference to North Korea, said no country should be allowed to plunge the region into chaos.

The US has postponed a missile test to avoid provoking more North Korean talk of war.

The North, led by 30-year-old Kim Jong-un, has been issuing threats of war against the US and US-backed South Korea since the UN imposed sanctions on his country after its third nuclear-weapons test in February.

The regime's anger has been compounded by weeks of joint military exercises by South Korea and the US.

The North told diplomats late last week that they should consider leaving Pyongyang because of the tension, but embassies appeared to view the appeal as just more rhetoric and their staff have stayed put.

South Korea said it was preparing to react to whatever the North's unpredictable leaders might do, including a missile strike.

China, North Korea's sole financial and diplomatic backer, has shown growing irritation with the pseudo-Stalinist dictatorship's warnings of imminent nuclear war.

Chinese President Xi Jinping did not name North Korea but said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

Stability in Asia, he said, "faces new challenges as hot-spot issues keep emerging; both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, relating his phone conversation with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, expressed similar frustration: "We oppose provocative words and actions from any party in the region and do not allow trouble-making on China's doorstep."

Yesterday, the Foreign Ministry expressed "grave concern" at rising tension and said China had asked North Korea to "ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and norms".

China's embassy, it said, was "understood" to be operating normally in Pyongyang.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said at the Hainan forum that avoiding conflict on the peninsula was vital.

"Any aggression there is a threat to the interests of every country in the region," she said.

British Foreign Minister William Hague said North Korea's nuclear ambitions had to be taken seriously.

He said the international response "should also be very clear, very united and calm at all times because it's important not to feed the frenetic rhetoric we've seen over the past few weeks".

Switzerland's Foreign Ministry offered to mediate, saying it was "always willing to help find a solution if this is the wish of the parties, such as hosting a meeting between them".

Kim, the third member of his dynasty to rule North Korea, is thought to have spent several years in Switzerland being educated under a pseudonym. He took over in December 2011 on the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, who confronted South Korea and the US throughout his 17-year rule.

In Washington, a Defence Department official said a long-scheduled test of the Minuteman3 intercontinental missile would be postponed.

"This is the logical, prudent and responsible course of action to take," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said the test had been unconnected to "anything related to North Korea" and added that another test launch could be expected next month. The US was fully prepared to respond to North Korean threats, the official said.

The South Korean president's office said the country had a "firm military readiness" for any eventuality. It described as "planned behaviour" the North's call for South Korean workers to leave the Kaesong joint industrial park, just inside North Korea, and for diplomats to evacuate Pyongyang by Wednesday.

"Ahead of that time, a situation like a North Korean missile launch might occur," Kim Haing, a spokesman for the president, quoted the chief of the National Security Office as saying.

"As of now, there are no signs of all-out war but if a local conflict breaks out North Korea should be aware that it will pay the price."

South Korean media said on Friday tht the North had moved two medium-range missiles to its east coast but there has been no confirmation.

The North has always condemned joint exercises off the South Korean coast but has been especially vitriolic this year. The US dispatched two B-2 stealth bombers from their home base in the States to take part in the exercises.

North Korean state television showed a military training session, with soldiers putting dogs through their paces. One dog was shown tearing to pieces an effigy of South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin.