A few months ago, North Korea wheeled out its largest-ever ballistic missile during a televised military parade meant to incite fear in state “enemies.” The stream of military equipment that rolled through Kim Il Sung Square made headlines around the world, but a top U.S. military official says that tensions are still much lower than they were at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s time in the White House.

“We should not confuse parade precision with conventional capability. I’ve marched in a U.S. presidential inauguration. That’s not war fighting,” United States Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Robert Bruce Abrams said on Monday. “North Korean provocations are well down when compared to the height of inter-Korean tensions and the brinkmanship of 2017. And those reductions in tension — they are palpable.”