In a major speech this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un insisted that his country will never start a war with South Korea unprovoked.

But as tensions rise, and as some analysts argue Pyongyang has “made a strategic decision to go to war,” there is growing evidence to suggest that the DPRK actually wants to be provoked — and that it could set a trap for the ROK military to make this happen.

At the heart of this scenario is the possibility that Pyongyang will take action to deliberately exploit the assertive defense posture of