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One employee of a shipping company said: “I was confused at first but I thought it wouldn’t be bad to have a war survival kit at home after watching recent news.” It mirrors a similar surge
in Japan, where companies selling bomb shelters and other civilian war equipment have recorded huge upturns in sales. After a series of provocative missile launches, which first saw bombs
fly into Japan’s area of economic importance before then directly over their territory, sales have boomed. READ MORE: HOW MANY NUCLEAR WEAPONS DOES NORTH KOREA HAVE? Earth Shift, a company
specialising in shelters, saw a 10-fold increase in inquiries and quotes for underground facilities during February and April of this year. And businessman Oribe Seiki Seisakusho also said
this spring he had sold out of 50 Swiss-made air purifiers, which are said to keep out radiation and poisonous gas. These purifiers cost £4,390 while shelters cost an eye-watering £170,000
to build. They can protect 13 people and survive huge blasts. Mr Oribe said: “It takes time and money to build a shelter. But all we hear these days, in this tense atmosphere, is that they
want one now. They ask us to come right away and give them an estimate." And the world moved one step closer to disaster yesterday when a North Korean official claimed America had
"declared war" on Kim's hermit state. A White House official dismissed this claim as "absurd".