Over the past two weeks, North Korea has launched an unprecedented seven rounds of missile tests and greatly ramped up tensions on the Korean peninsula and the wider region. Recent developments point to a much more emboldened North Korea than in the past, further raising the stakes to return to diplomacy.

The recent flurry of tests came amid bilateral and trilateral military drills involving the United States, South Korea, and Japan. Pyongyang has long criticised the drills for being a "practice to invade" North Korea, but has usually refrained from taking provocative military action during them.