U.S. snubs N. Korea's warning for foreigners to take shelter

The U.S. government on Tuesday dismissed North Korea's public warning that foreigners in South Korea had better leave the nation amid the possibility of an armed clash on the peninsula.

"Our analysis remains the same as it was last week. We're not discouraging U.S. citizens from traveling to South Korea or encouraging them to take any special travel precautions," Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the State Department, said at a press briefing.

"We ar not recommending any specific actions by American citizens at this time," he added.

Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul announced that "there's no specific information to suggest imminent threat to U.S. citizens or facilities in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

On Tuesday (Seoul time), North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee issued a statement calling on foreigners in the South to "take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety."

South Korean officials played down the North's warning as aimed at spreading fears of war.

Ventrell said a direct communication line between the U.S. and North Korea, dubbed the New York channel, remains open as necessary. Today, it usually refers to working-level contact between North Korea's deputy ambassador to the U.N., Han Song-ryol, and Clifford Hart, the State Department's special envoy to the six-way nuclear talks.

Han and Hart met in New York in the middle of March, according to the Cable, a web-based news arm of Foreign Policy magazine. No real progress was made during the meeting and no new offers were made by the U.S. officials present, it quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying.

But Ventrell would not talk about any specific contact.

North Korea used to give informal notice to the U.S. through the channel before a long-range rocket launch.

"I don't have anything to read out in terms of communications between the DPRK (North Korea) and us at this point," Ventrell said.

The White House, meanwhile, described Pyongyang's statement urging foreigners to evacuate South Korea as "unhelpful rhetoric."

"This kind of rhetoric will only further isolate North Korea from the international community," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

He reiterated that the U.S. is taking precautionary measures in response to the threats and actions by North Korea. (Yonhap News)