North Korea's newest batch of future soldiers: Scrawny 11-year-olds with freshly shaved heads punch the air as they practice taekwondo

Rare pictures show images of North Korea's future soldiers as children as young as 11 are taught combat training in a military academy.

11-year-old pupils at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang, North Korea wear military uniforms and are prepared for war

New recruits with shaved heads are seen preparing for war in the grounds of Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang as they practise their taekwondo.

Young children with shaven heads learn taekwondo at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School where former leader Kim Jong Il once studied

'I really think that's how I can get my revenge on the American imperialists: by getting top marks in class.

One pupil named Jo Chung Hyok said: 'Because of the present situation, I am trying to study harder.

‘It's my revolutionary duty,’ Jo said. ‘I'm working extra hard to get top marks in military subjects like tactics and shooting.’ 

              Pupils dressed in military uniforms chant: The respected Marshal Kim Jong Un is our father.' at the school in Pyongyang

The government-run school, where former leader Kim Jong Il was educated during the Korean War, indoctrinates students with criticisms of America and South Korea.

North Korea: US and Seoul brace for missile test

The US and South Korean combined forces command in the South has stepped up surveillance of the North and added intelligence staff as the region prepares for an expected missile test.

The joint command has increased its alert level one notch above the standard status, an unnamed military official told the South's Yonhap news agency, while Seoul's foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, told parliament the prospects of a launch were "very high".

While tensions on the peninsula have escalated rapidly in recent weeks, with Pyongyang issuing a series of threats and withdrawing workers from a joint industrial zone, analysts believe the North is simply trying to exert pressure on other countries in the hope of a security guarantee and aid."

South Korea Largely Ignores Latest North Korean Threat

North Korea has urged foreigners to leave South Korea to avoid a possible military conflict, but Pyongyang's latest warning apparently has done little to disrupt life in Seoul.

But businesses in Seoul were operating normally after the threat, and there was no sign of unusual traffic leaving the city.

My advice-The North Korean leadership would be wiser to focus on developing its economy and assisting the North Korean people who suffer under this kind of leadership that chooses development of missile programs and nuclear weapons rather than the feeding of its own people

North Korea warns foreigners to leave South

As the world waits to see if North Korea launches a ballistic missile, the regime has attempted to raise tensions further, warning foreigners living in South Korea to make evacuation plans because the peninsula is on the brink of war.

"We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war," the official KCNA news agency quoted an official from a North Korean organisation calling itself Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying.

Analysts noted that Pyongyang had issued similar threats in the past, adding that this latest warning is designed to elicit aid and political concessions from Seoul and Washington.

Amid the bluster of recent weeks – during which the North has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the US – the regime appears to have made good on its threat to withdraw its workers from the Kaesong industrial complex.None of the 53,000 North Korean workers at the site, located just north of the border, arrived for work on Tuesday morning – a day after Pyongyang accused the South of turning the jointly run zone into "a hotbed of war".

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Time will tell

North Korea to recall her workers as 4th nuclear test feared

 North Korea plans to recall 51,000 workers and temporarily shut down its operations at the Kaesong Industrial Park that it runs jointly with South Korean companies just north of the border.

Analysts in South Korea see the moveea as a leap in Pyongyang's determination to make sacrifices amid its increasingly belligerent rhetoric, including indications of a fourth nuclear test.

North Korea has been threatening a nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea for weeks in protest of ongoing joint military drills in the south and the latest U.S.-led U.N. sanctions over its Feb 12 nuclear test.

The South Korean government today mentioned the possibility of a fourth nuclear test coming soon at the Gilju area, northeastern province of Hamkyong. Citing recent activity and movement of soldiers and cargo detected in that area, the Ministry of Defense spokesman Kim Min-Seok confirmed that "North Korea is always ready and prepared to launch another nuclear test" at one of the two underground tunnels.

South Korea prepared for North Korea

While North Korea isn't backing away from threats of nuclear war, neighboring countries are taking precautionary measures for a possible missile test launch.

South Korea's presidential office told reporters Sunday that they take Pyongyang's surprise warning to foreign embassies and international organisations there to evacuate before April 10 as a sign that North Korea may test-fire its missile that day.

"We're thoroughly preparing for this, leaving all possibilities open," said Kim Jang-Soo, chief of the National Security Office, during a meeting at the presidential office, according to spokeswoman Kim Haing.

Diplomats in North Korea Stay Put

Foreign diplomats stationed in North Korea appeared to be staying put at their embassies in Pyongyang Saturday, despite the government's public suggestion that they should leave the capital for security reasons.

Reports received in Western capitals from foreign embassies in Pyongyang indicate diplomats are disregarding the warning to leave, and that most foreigners saw the warning message North Korea circulated Friday as a gesture intended to heighten tensions on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea had told embassies and international groups it could only guarantee their safety until April 10 in the event of open hostilities.

Everybody seems to believe that Kim Jong Un just wants to be bellicose! Time will tell

North Korea not backing down

North Korea pledges to strengthen its nuclear weaponry by refurbishing its shelved operations at the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. I like other analysts believe this is simply another step towards making their message clearer to the world.

Pyongyang's spokesman for the General Department of Atomic Energy said on Tuesday that the 5 megawatt graphite-moderated reactor is to refurbish and restart, along with the uranium enrichment factory and other nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. Its cooling tower was blown up in front of invited international media in 2008 as part of international nuclear disarmament talks agreed in October 2007.

"They're saying, we are a nuclear power, acknowledge it, and treat them as one of the nuclear power players,"- is that too much to ask?

North Korea Vows to Strengthen Nuclear Arsenal

North Korea has vowed to develop and launch more advanced satellites and says the country's nuclear weapons are non-negotiable and will not be traded even for "billions of dollars" in economic assistance.

The official KCNA news agency reported Sunday that a plenary meeting of the North Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, chaired by leader Kim Jong Un, called for building both a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal.It said the North's nuclear armed forces are not a political bargaining chip, and that they should be "expanded and beefed up...until the denuclearization of the world is realized.

"The meeting comes a day before the country's rubber stamp parliament is to meet April 1 amid increased tensions with South Korea and the United States.

In a related development, sources said that a group of U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets were flown Sunday from Kadena Air Base in Japan to Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, to join the current joint exercises in South Korea.

Last week, a pair of stealth B-2 bombers were dispatched from the United States to drop inert munitions on a South Korean island range.The mission, following those by B-52 bombers earlier in the month, was seen as sending a message to both Seoul and Pyongyang. It was a dramatic reassurance to the South that it is protected under the United States nuclear umbrella -- and a warning to the North of U.S. forces' capability to strike precisely and quickly from a long distance, should war erupt.

On Saturday, the North said it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea and warned any provocation by Seoul and Washington would escalate into nuclear confrontation. Pyongyang said all issues between the two Koreas would be handled according to "wartime regulations."In response, South Korea's defense ministry urged its northern neighbor to stop making threats. The ministry also said the South's forces will completely punish the North if there is a provocation.