South Korea

"It's like a joke," one retiree in Seoul says of the North's daily provocations. His view is shared by many South Koreans, who believe leaders in the North are trying to extort more aid from other nations and are trying to bolster their own positions.

On Tuesday, the North said tourists and foreign companies in the South should leave because nuclear war may be imminent. But people in Seoul have heard such talk for years. They think North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is trying to bolster support at home with such threats.

The factory complex inside North Korea produces products for South Korean companies. It has been a rare example of cooperation. Now, it's caught in the latest round of escalating tensions on the peninsula.

When it comes to North Korea's latest belligerence, U.S. officials can sound more like an exasperated parent responding to a child's tantrum. That's just their first warning, though.

Tensions are high. But South Korea says it does not plan to remove its workers an industrial complex inside the North. Also, while a Russian diplomat says North Korean officials have asked that it consider evacuating staff, no such action is planned at this time.

South Korea's defense minister says the missile could have been moved for testing or for drills, and that there's no sign of military mobilizations that could suggest preparations for a full-scale conflict.

South Korean companies employ about 55,000 North Koreans at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. But the North has blocked trucks and workers from the South, as Kim Jong Un's regime continues to express its displeasure with U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

The North's move to block South Korean workers from getting to a jointly run factory park is a familiar way for the communist state to show its displeasure. But it comes at a time when tensions are as high as they've been in years. And the North's new leader is inexperienced at this diplomatic game.

The North's move to block South Korean workers from getting to a jointly run factory is a familiar way for the communist state to show its displeasure. But it comes at a time when tensions are as high as they've been in years.

The hot rhetoric continues. North Korea says it will resume work at a facility that had been shut down after disarmament talks. The North now views its nuclear program as non-negotiable, experts say.