UN Security Concil passes a resolution to implement new sanctions on North Korea as a punishment for the Northeast Asian nation's ballistic missile tests, on August 5 in UN Headquarters in New York (XINHUA)
From April to November, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted several nuclear and ballistic missile tests, triggering tensions in the region. On September 3, the DPRK announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb again.
Meanwhile, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) speeded up their deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean Peninsula and upgraded their existing joint military drills. In mid-November, three U.S. aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Nimitz, each leading a strike group that includes Aegis destroyers, took part in a rare military exercise in the Western Pacific not seen in a decade. The increasingly intensified situation on the peninsula seriously undermines regional security.
Copyedited by Francisco Little