The last thing that anyone in the world needs right now is a reason to panic.
The last few weeks have felt a little bit like a global nightmare. The manufacturing engine of the international economy, China, has been crippled by a viral outbreak that’s infected over 100,000 people, killing roughly 3% of those who contract it.
The virus, known as COVID-19, has eluded quarantine time and again thanks to its tricky fourteen day incubation period. Furthermore, the hit that China has taken financially is spilling over into the world markets, creating even more tension in this already-chaotic world.
Now, to add to the mess, North Korea is acting up again.
North Korea fired at least three unidentified projectiles off its east coast early Monday, according to South Korea’s military, amid a deadlock in a U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at stripping the rogue nation of its nuclear weapons.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the three launches made from a town in the North’s South Hamgyong province.
The statement said South Korea’s military was monitoring North Korea for possible additional launches.
In recent days, North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un supervised two rounds of live-fire artillery exercises in its first weapons tests since late November.
There are concerns that North Korea’s proximity to the Chinese outbreak, combined with their woefully inept medical capacities, will allow this deadly coronavirus strain to fester within the hermit kingdom. Should this occur, the already rogue government could turn desperate and force the world into conflict with a poorly judged show of force.
