Alvaro Quiros has pulled out of this month's Ballantine's Championship in South Korea due to the escalating political tension within the area.

North Korea recently declared that they were in a state of war with the South, before announcing this week that they had ratified a nuclear attack on the United States.

The Spaniard said that it would be "a stupid idea" to risk his life by travelling to the tournament in Seoul.

"I'm not going to play in Korea," Sky Sports News quotes Quiros as saying. "I don't think it's a good moment to go there - it would be a stupid idea with the way things are.

"I don't want to mess with my life just to play in a golf tournament.

"It is difficult to reach the venue. It takes one hour to get from the airport to the hotel and you also spend two hours a day travelling back and forth from the course. That's one good reason not to go and the political situation is another."

The tournament gets underway on April 25.