..

North Korea is showing "signs" of preparing a fourth nuclear test, South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae has said, with reports of stepped up activity at its main atomic test site.

The daily JoongAng Ilbo on Monday had cited intelligence reports showing a sharp increase in activity at the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site since last week.

"We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation, which is very similar to the situation seen ahead of the third nuclear test," the newspaper quoted a senior government official as saying.

"There are such signs," the unification minister told a parliamentary committee hearing when lawmakers asked him to confirm the reports, but declined to elaborate.

Kim Jang-Soo, chief national security adviser to President Park Geun-Hye, said a test-launch or other provocation could come before or after Wednesday, the date by which the North has suggested diplomats leave Pyongyang.

Warnings that the safety of foreign embassy staff could not be guaranteed after April 10 were mostly ignored.

North Korea, angered and threatened by UN sanctions following its own nuclear and missile tests in February and by South Korea-US military drills this month, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.

It has also reportedly loaded two medium-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast, raising speculation on its intentions.

On Monday, South Korea issued an appeal to the north to lift an access ban on the Kaesong Industrial Centre, which, access to which has been blocked by North Korea for a sixth day, disrupting operations in almost a dozen southern firms.

Avoiding confrontation

A US defence official said Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel postponed the test of an intercontinental missile at Vandenberg Air Force Base in the state of California until next month apparently to avoid further confrontation with the North.

China is the North's sole major ally, but its patience with Pyongyang is also showing signs of wearing thin.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China opposed "provocative words and actions" from any party in the region and would "not allow troublemaking on China's doorstep," in a sharply worded comment on Saturday to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

The North's mobilised missiles are reported to be untested Musudan models which are believed to have a range of about 3,000km.

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

The North has no proven intercontinental ballistic missile capability that would enable it to strike more distant US targets, and many experts say it is unlikely it can even mount a nuclear warhead on a midrange missile.

Daniel Tudor, author of Korea: The Impossible Country, told Al Jazeera that the general mood among South Koreans is fairly calm.

"Back in 1994, when North Korea threatened to turn the South into a sea of fire, people were hoarding food, hiding in basements, etc... but now its 'just the way it goes'."

...