The Nuclear-powered carrier, the USS George Washington and its battle group arrive in the Yellow Sea today for joint war games with South Korea, angering Pyongyang and its ally Beijing.

South Korea's marine commander has vowed to exact "a thousand-fold revenge" on North Korea for their artillery attack.

North Korea meanwhile has warned: "If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences".

Expats recalled as North Korea prepares for war
by By Shaun Walker in Moscow
Independent.co.uk

A mass exodus of North Korean workers from the Far East of Russia is under way, according to reports coming out of the region. As the two Koreas edged towards the brink of war this week, it appears that the workers in Russia have been called back to aid potential military operations.

Vladnews agency, based in Vladivostok, reported that North Korean workers had left the town of Nakhodka en masse shortly after the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula earlier this week. "Traders have left the kiosks and markets, workers have abandoned building sites, and North Korean secret service employees working in the region have joined them and left," the agency reported.

Russia's migration service said that there were over 20,000 North Koreans in Russia at the beginning of 2010, of which the vast majority worked in construction. The workers are usually chaperoned by agents from Kim Jong-il's security services and have little contact with the world around them.