The fifth nuclear test conducted by North Korea on September 9 was, in many ways, a culmination of the troubled security situation that's been growing for much of 2016. On the eve of nuclear exercise, the military-political situation in Korea was so precipitous that there was no end to the bad news coming from the peninsula.

Let us recall some of the events. From August 22 till September 2, one of three major annual U.S.-ROK maneuvers, "Ulchi Freedom Guardian", were conducted. The military games were attended by 50,000 South Korean and 25,000 US (2,5 thousand of them are deployed outside of Korea) military personnel, as well as representatives of the nine countries which fought Pyongyang in the Korean War. Their task scenario included preparations for a preemptive nuclear attack and a phased plan of a future North Korea occupation.