Provocations push tensions to the brink

Hours after a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea reportedly test-fired a ballistic missile on Saturday, which exploded after liftoff. Pyongyang's repeated testing of the international community's patience will lead to severe consequences that will increasingly be hard for it to swallow.

Its blatant violation of Security Council resolutions constitutes an act of open defiance to the international community's resolve to denuclearize the peninsula and points to the urgency of tackling both the symptoms and the root cause of the issue.

A vicious circle of provocation and retaliation has reigned in recent months, with Pyongyang pushing its nuclear and missile programs while the United States and the Republic of Korea resorting to massive military exercises and the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system in the ROK.