No Evacuation of German Embassy in Pyongyang, Keep Ways for Diplomacy Open Instead
Regarding the further escalation of the conflict on the Korean peninsula member of the party executive committee of DIE LINKE, Wolfgang Gehrcke, declares:
There is no reason to take the threats from North Korea lightly. As absurd as the pictures of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may seem when he determines targets for the army, there is a highly armoured country with a big army and modern weapons, including the possibility of using nucelar weapons backing him.
It is reasonable when the German government does neither cut its diplomatic relations nor evacuates the embassy in Pyongyang. Especially in times of an acute crisis diplomatic channels have to be kept open. At the same time North Korea carries the full responsibility to wholly protect the embassy staff. These minimal standards of international law may not be subject to negotiation.
It would be reasonable if South Korea and the U.S. would not themselves further escalate the conflict. The Korean peninsula has no need for more weapons and military maneuvers. Germany should ask the movement of the non-aligned states for intervention in this highly tense situation.