Following a short interlude during which some military experts claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had either been badly hurt or dead after a botched missile test, Kim's influential younger sister Chung Eui-yong, recently appointed to one of the leading roles in the government, threatened to annihilate neighboring South Korea.
With reports of the "Supreme Leader" experiencing some level of health issues, Eui-yong has taken on the highest position of any woman in the hermit kingdom and is seen as next-in-line were something to happen to Kim. She has also been charged with overseeing relations with S. Korea—by far the most important diplomatic role in the current administration.
Last week, Eui-yong threatened to break off a military cooperation pact between the two countries singed in wake of President Trump's monumental summit with Kim two years ago in which the two pledged to work towards disarmament of the Korean peninsula and resuming diplomatic ties with the West.
Eui-yong followed that up with more serious threats. "If I drop a hint of our next plan the South Korean authorities are anxious about, the right to taking the next action against the enemy will be entrusted to the General Staff of our army," she stated. "Our army, too, will determine something for cooling down our people's resentment and surely carry out it, I believe," she continued.
Although a 2018 Singapore Summit was hailed as a possible breakthrough between Washington and Pyongyang, a follow-up conference in 2019 failed to produce results.
While Eui-yong blamed a propaganda campaign by the South for the latest escalation, experts have cited reports of the North's economic collapse and a high coronavirus morbidity rate. According to the government-run Korean Central News, Eui-yong said "it is high time to surely break with the South Korean authorities" and promised to "take action soon."
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon acknowledged diplomacy efforts between the US and his country were at a stand-still, saying hopes for an agreement had "been shifted into despair," with "even a slim ray of optimism for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula fad[ing] away into a dark nightmare."
"The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made simply by maintaining personal relations between the two leaders," he stated.
In March, the AFP reported that North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast.
Two projectiles were fired eastwards from the port city of Wonsan and flew 230 kilometers (143 miles) into the Sea of Japan -- also known as the East Sea -- at a maximum altitude of 30 kilometres, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
"Such military action by North Korea is an extremely inappropriate act when the entire world is having difficulties due to the COVID-19 outbreak," they added.
The Japanese defense ministry said the "ballistic missile-like objects" did not cross into Japanese waters or the country's exclusive economic zone.