In its latest threatening pronouncement, North Korea declared the country had "powerful striking means" set on standby Thursday, a not so subtle suggestion it was preparing to test launch a medium-range missile.
U.S. and South Korean military officials are speculating Pyongyang could be planning to test a missile in the middle of its national celebrations around leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea's ironically-named Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, an agency not affiliated with its military, announced that "striking means" had been "put on standby for a launch and the coordinates of targets put into the warheads." The group was also quoted by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a state-run media entity, as saying "war can break out any moment."
Meanwhile in Seoul, South Korea's key player in relations with Pyongyang, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, plead with the North to take part in an open dialogue and allow workers to return to the Kaesong Industrial Complex on the countries' shared border after closing the factories to the South last week.
"We strongly urge North Korea not to exacerbate the crisis on the Korean Peninsula," Ryoo said.
Experts on the region aren't convinced North Korea will follow through on its promises to engage the South in a full-scale attack such as the instigation that began the Korean War in 1950. However, analysts remain concerned the heightened tensions could pressure North Korea into a "skirmish," which could potentially develop into a legitimate conflict.
"North Korea has been, with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions ... skating very close to a dangerous line," said U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Washington. "Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation."
Analysts believe North Korea's nearly-endless flood of aggressive actions is meant to pressure the U.S. into "disarmament-for-aid" discussions and strengthen its people's devotion to new leader Kim Jong Un by showing he is a powerful military commander. Some also note that it's likely the majority of Pyongyang's threats are merely attempts to feel out, or intimidate South Korea's recently elected - and thus untested - president, and for Kim Jong Un - also a fairly new leader - to prove his mettle to an inert national audience.
North Korea has made a point in recent months of displaying its military brawn through open threats aimed at the U.S. and South, provocative military exercises aimed at South Korean and U.S. targets, and more. North Korea has continued to ratchet up its aggressive rhetoric on a near-daily basis ever since its third nuclear test launch in February.
North Korea is planning to launch a medium-range missile test "any day," according to the South and U.S. defense officials. South Korea said launching a Musadan missile, which is ballistic, would be a direct violation of the United Nations Security Council sanction that bans Pyongyang from any ballistic activity.
Adm. Sam Locklear told the Senate Armed Services Committee that America is prepared for North Korea to launch a missile or any other threat. "I am satisfied that we are ready today, yes," Locklear said.
Questioned if the U.S. could intercept a missile coming from North Korea, Locklear explained, "I believe we have a credible ability to defend the homeland, to defend Hawaii, defend Guam, to defend our forward-deployed forces and defend our allies."