North Korea’s sabre-rattling

Busy at work: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang on Jan 19. — AP

NORTH Korea on Jan 20 ratcheted up its threat level dramatically by hinting at lifting a moratorium on major weapons tests, with South Korea reluctant to strongly protest the North’s continued missile tests despite mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The policy-making politburo of the ruling Workers’ Party, presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, held a meeting and decided to “examine the issue of restarting all temporarily-suspended activities,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.