On September 9th, North Korea carried out an underground nuclear weapons test. The test, the DPRK’s fifth and largest to date, was underscored by the DPRK test-firing three medium-range rockets that splashed down in Japanese waters. 

Nuclear and missile tests, as with previous such events, were clearly intended by the DPRK as a provocation to regional and international powers, and, in the words of one analyst, demonstrated “its resolve and commitment to developing a nuclear arsenal able to strike its enemies.” 

Recent American and international efforts to induce the DPRK to curb its nuclear