UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has no plan to pull its staff out of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the world body is studying warnings from Pyongyang amid rising nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Friday.
"UN staff in the DPRK remain engaged in their humanitarian and development work throughout the country," said Nesirky, who is with the UN secretary-general on his European tour, while briefing reporters here via audio link.
At present, the United Nations has 36 international staff and 21 locally hired people working for seven different UN agencies and programs in the DPRK, UN officials said.
UN officials were at a meeting in Pyongyang on Friday, during which DPRK officials asked foreign diplomats to consider evacuating their staff out of their embassies and warned that their safety could not be guaranteed after April 10, Nesirky noted.
"The United Nations is studying the message and the United Nations will respond as appropriate," he added.
In a notification to foreign embassies and diplomatic missions in Pyongyang, the DPRK Foreign Ministry said that due to the increasing threat from the United States, the situation on the Korean Peninsula was very tense.
The current question was not whether, but when a war would break out on the peninsula, the ministry said.
It added that once something happened on the peninsula, foreign embassies and diplomatic missions should consider the possibility of evacuation.
The DPRK would also provide safe locations for diplomatic personnel in accordance with international conventions, the ministry added.
"There is a general need for things to calm down, for the volume to be turned down," Nesirky said.
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