North Korea test-fired another short range missile off its east coast today, raising tensions in the region even further after a week of tests including a Monday morning atomic weapons test. This is unlikely to be the last test, with US officials saying there are signs the nation is preparing to test long-range missiles.
US troops on the Korean Peninsula are on high alert amid speculation of an impending resumption of the Korean War, 56 years after the armistice was signed. The nuclear weapons tests are also sparking concerns that the already potentially disastrous war could lead to a nuclear exchange in the densely populated peninsula.
Western nations are pushing for another United Nations Security Council bill including harsh sanctions against the north. North Korea has cautioned that it will take “self-defense measures” in response, including nullifying the armistice, which it already declared dead days ago.
Monday test was the culmination of over a month of disputes after a previous UN resolution led North Korea to pull out of six-party disarmament talks. Though the US ruled its own analysis inconclusive, Russia has said the test was about the same power as the atomic weapons the US dropped on Japanese cities at the end of World War 2.