A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister McCully said last night that "although we always have some contingency plans in place", no specific arrangements were being made for repatriating Kiwis from the two Koreas, despite escalating tensions between the states.
Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith has been reported as confirming that planning was in progress "for how we would deal with any Australian citizens who are caught up in any concern on the Korean Peninsula".
Mr McCully said on Friday that all New Zealand's overseas posts had contingency plans covering everything from natural disasters to large-scale emergencies but "at this stage we are not considering any specific plans to evacuate New Zealanders from South Korea".
However, he said New Zealand was monitoring developments on the Korean Peninsula closely.
At the end of last week, 659 New Zealanders were registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as being in South Korea, and three were registered as being in North Korea.
- Audrey Young of the NZ Herald
