The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has become ever more complicated due to the words and deeds of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States.

The DPRK's fifth nuclear test last September and its continued missile tests in the past months have violated the United Nations Security Council resolution and posed a threat to regional stability. More economic sanctions by the Security Council will be warranted if such violations continue.

The United States has not made the matter any better by flexing its muscles. On Wednesday, some 2,000 US and the Republic of Korea troops took part in a military drill just 30 kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone, a day after the DPRK held its own artillery drill. The USS Carl Vinson and other warships are cruising toward the area in what US President Donald Trump earlier described as "an armada".