[00:04.30]From VOA Learning English,
[00:07.54]this is IN THE NEWS.
[00:09.93]North Korea is urging foreign embassies
[00:13.97]to consider telling their workers
[00:17.59]to leave the capital, Pyongyang,
[00:20.88]because of rising tensions.
[00:23.57]Britain says North Korea gave the warning to embassies
[00:29.10]and international organizations on Friday.
[00:33.98]The North Korean government reportedly said
[00:37.77]it cannot guarantee their safety after April tenth
[00:43.19]in, what it called, "the event of a conflict."
[00:47.72]The government has made a series of threats
[00:51.37]in recent weeks against South Korea and the United States.
[00:56.49]The two countries have long enjoyed a strong alliance.
[01:02.03]For years, the United States stored nuclear weapons
[01:07.25]in South Korea for use against the North
[01:11.79]if it attacked the South.
[01:14.43]Those weapons were removed in 1991.
[01:18.96]But South Korean officials have been debating
[01:23.29]whether to have the United States redeploy the arms.
[01:29.02]North Korea has wanted to keep its military strong.
[01:34.34]The North launched its first long-distance rocket in 1998.
[01:41.47]After a year of negotiations,
[01:44.75]North Korea agreed to stop long distance missile tests
[01:50.44]in exchange for better contacts
[01:53.47]with the United States and its allies.
[01:57.65]As part of the 1999 agreement,
[02:01.68]the North received money and food aid.
[02:06.41]Since then, North Korea has gone back, periodically,
[02:11.91]to using threats to get more money and food.
[02:17.13]But in the past few months,
[02:19.57]the war of words has gotten louder and more threatening.
[02:25.45]Last December, North Korea launched a long distance rocket.
[02:30.73]Then, in February, it carried out an underground nuclear test.
[02:38.25]Those actions led the United Nations Security Council
[02:43.88]to expand existing sanctions against North Korea.
[02:49.46]The Council's decision so angered the North that this week,
[02:55.58]the government said it had been given final approval
[02:59.57]for a nuclear attack against the United States.
[03:04.95]But many military experts do not believe
[03:09.13]the North can act on the threat.
[03:12.02]South Korea reported this week that North Korea
[03:17.40]has moved one of its missiles to its eastern coast.
[03:22.78]South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin said
[03:28.12]the missile appears to have what he called "considerable range."
[03:33.99]But he does not believe it can reach the United States mainland.
[03:40.62]American Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said
[03:45.10]he is taking the threat seriously.
[03:48.33]"Some of the actions they've taken over the past few weeks
[03:52.32]present a real and clear danger and threat
[03:58.05]certainly to the interest of our allies,
[04:01.88]starting with South Korea and Japan."
[04:04.27]On Wednesday, the United States said it plans
[04:09.24]to deploy an advanced missile defense system to Guam,
[04:13.97]an American territory in the Pacific Ocean.
[04:17.81]The move is meant to serve as a warning,
[04:21.60]but it will take several weeks for the system to arrive.
[04:26.93]South Korea's Ministry of National Defense
[04:30.51]has confirmed the movement of at least one missile by North Korea.
[04:37.54]South Korea is also preparing for an attack.
[04:42.17]It has deployed two warships with radar designed to monitor missiles.