NORTH KOREA: S. Korea Holds Military Drill Near Border, North Test-Fires Missile

South Korea announced that its Marine Corps resumed live-fire drills on islands near the inter-Korean border after a seven-year hiatus as a result of the suspension of a tension reduction pact with North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reports. The exercise was conducted just south of the so-called Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime border between the two Koreas.

• The South's military drill was preplanned and seemingly not directly related to the latest North Korean missile test conducted today. A ballistic missile, which South Korea said may have been a hypersonic one, was fired towards the East Sea but exploded midair after flying for around 250km.
• This comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, as a US aircraft carrier has arrived for trilateral exercises with South Korea and Japan, just after North Korea concluded top-level talks with Russia on a treaty including mutual security assurances.
• Against this backdrop, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said that his country was not considering nuclear armament "for now" since the US agreed to defend it with all military means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons.