North Korea moves missile to east coast amid threats of attack on US bases A spokesman for the South Korean Defence ministry declined to comment on the missile. Meanwhile, Japanese media reported that the North had also moved a KN-08 long-range missile to its east coast. Officials in the United States have now reportedly decided to step back from their show of force on the Korean peninsula in surprise at the intensity of North Korea's response. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials, that a "playbook" of military exercises, including the flyover of nuclear capable stealth bombers and F22 warplanes, had antagonised the already unpredictable leadership in Pyongyang. "The concern was that we were heightening the prospect of misperceptions on the part of the North Koreans, and that that could lead to miscalculations," a senior administration official said to the newspaper. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Pentagon said the US wanted to lower the "temperature" on the peninsula. Each step by the United States has drawn a flow of ever-more bellicose rhetoric by the North Koreans. In what is fast becoming a daily ritual, North Korean propaganda threatened to strike back yesterday with "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons. The confusion in Korea was highlighted on Thursday by what turned out to be erroneous reports that North Korea had demanded the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex by April 10. Some 823 South Koreans are currently working at Kaesong, which lies six miles inside the North Korean border. In fact, South Korea later said, the North had requested a list of staff movements over a national holiday today and that the park's closure was not imminent. Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert at the International Crisis Group, said the United States was trying to simultaneously send a strong message to North Korea, and reassure its allies in region, without exacerbating the situation. "Getting the policy mix right is really difficult," he said. The US has to deter North Korea without antagonising it and fulfil its commitments to South Korea and Japan. What hardware do you deploy and what signalling do you do? He said he was unsure if officials really intended to dial back their position. What else is the US going to do? It has sent out a nuclear submarine, the B52 bombers, the B2 stealth jets, a pair of destroyers and now I hear an aircraft carrier is on the way. What else have they got to roll out? Once they have done all this, is it then rolling back if they pause?" he said.