Tensions With North Korea Rise as Volleyball Game Ends

South Korean Officials Continue to Predict Imminent Nuclear Test

Tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to soar, with speculation that the US could still attack North Korea at any moment, with the USS Carl Vinson and its carrier strike group expected to arrive in the vicinity in the next few days.

The Carl Vinson has been driving a lot of speculations lately, but South Korean officials saw another reason to be concerned, that the North Korean volleyball games taking place at one of their nuclear sites appear to have come to an end, which they used to speculate that another nuclear test could  be imminent.

The intramural volleyball games at Punggye-ri have been the subject of considerable attention, with some speculating that the games were organized to “confuse” the United States, while North Korean state media offered no insight into what the games were all about.

North Korea’s state media, rather, has played up its ability to retaliate against any US attack that might take place, today claiming that they were ready to sink the Carl Vinson if fighting broke out. US officials have so far not been clear when the Carl Vinson will actually arrive.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.