North Korea may be toying with the United States. After U.S. officials said the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea set a missile upright in a position to fire, officials later reported the DPRK had put the missile back into a resting position, according to CNN.com.
The North Korean government recently said that "war can break out at any time," according to a state-run news agency.
The DPRK's most recent actions could be extremely threatening---or they could just be more of what U.S. officials are calling "bellicose rhetoric."
While the rising of the missile has the potential to be a legitimate warning to the U.S., it could have also been a test, according to one U.S. official.
The U.S. is fully aware of the North Korea's recent behavior, which has included minor tactics and loud threats that have not been acted upon.
Besides a North Korean maneuver to pull South Korea out of a joint industrial building, South Koreans have mostly conducted business as usual.
According to South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, threats from North Korea are far from unheard of.
"South Korea has been living under such threats from the past, and we are always prepared for it," he said.
He called the current situation "very ordinary."
Though both South Korea and the U.S. are aware of North Korea's recent tendencies to bark rather than bite, both nations are keeping an eye on the DPRK.
The U.S. official did not offer up information on how the U.S. knew about the Musadan missile. According to information from South Korea, the Musadan missile has the capacity to travel approximately 2,175 miles. If true, the missile could have the distance hit U.S. naval bases in Guam.
The U.S. and South Korea have been working together to deal with the threat of North Korea. The tandem have come up with a plan to respond to North Korean provocation and the U.S. has participated in South Korean military exercises.
