March saw an uptick in military activity on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw multiple military drills coinciding with large-scale U.S.-ROK Freedom Shield exercises.

Kim emphasized the need to “stir up training fever” while attending Korean People’s Army drills and other weapons tests in order to prepare to win “on the actual battlefield.” His command takes on new resonance after Pyongyang abandoned the goal of peaceful unification and declared the ROK a separate enemy state.

North Korea also expanded a suspected uranium enrichment facility, possibly to support