In recent trade, the South Korean Defence Minister, Lee Jong-sup, has said it is ‘difficult to say’ when N.Korea will carry out a nuclear test. His comments follow 25 missiles of various kinds being fired on Wednesday by the North Koreans, including one that landed close to South Korea’s waters.

President Yoon Suk-yeol said it was effectively “a territorial invasion by a missile”. This was ''the first time since the 1945 division of the peninsula that North Korean weapons had landed so close to South Korea, 26km beyond the northern limit line'', The Guardian noted, warning of a world on the brink when referring to nuclear threats from Russia and an impasse in talks between the US and Iran. 

''It now seems likely that North Korea will test a nuclear bomb for the first time since 2017, prompting some to argue that it is time for the US to recognise that North Korea is a nuclear weapons state,'' The Guardian wrote.