North Korea's recent nuclear test and rocket launch have heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula once again to such a dangerous level that any misreading of signals by either side of the two Koreas could trigger a conflict that destabilizes Northeast Asia.
At an emergency meeting convened after the Feb. 7 launch of a North Korean rocket carrying a satellite, the U.N. Security Council condemned Pyongyang for what it called a "de facto launching of a long-range ballistic missile" designed to contribute to the development of a nuclear weapon delivery system, in violation of a series of U.N. resolutions against North Korea. The council, which had condemned the North's fourth nuclear test just a month earlier on Jan. 6, reaffirmed that a clear threat to international peace and security continued to exist on the peninsula.
On Feb. 10, South Korea suspended its operations in the Kaesong Industrial Park, which was opened just a few kilometers north of the demilitarized zone in 2004 as a symbol of the North-South cooperation, in retaliation for the rocket launch and nuclear test. The park, where some 50,000 North Korean workers were employed by South Korean companies, had provided an important source of revenue for North Korea. Seoul also agreed to start its discussion with Washington for the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, which would offer better protection against North Korea's growing nuclear threat.
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