Global Security Newswire

The head of U.S. Army forces in the Asia-Pacific on Monday said North Korea recently seems to have dialed back the harshness of its threats, Foreign Policy reported.

"It appears the rhetoric has died down in recent days," Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski said. 

Pyongyang this spring brought regional tensions to one of the highest points in decades, announcing it was no longer bound by the Korean War armistice agreement and could launch nuclear-armed missiles at South Korea and the United States, among other threats.

"We're hoping that that cycle of provocation has come to its end point," Wiercinski said at the Pentagon. 

"I've seen this for 34 years," the general said. "Cyclical provocation from the grandfather to the father, now the son. It's nothing that I wouldn't have not expected."

However, as the North has made serious advances in its nuclear program in the last six months -- conducting a successful long-range rocket launch in December and carrying out its most powerful nuclear test yet in February -- the Stalinist state's most recent round of threats were more alarming than in the past.

Meanwhile, a senior aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an unannounced trip to North Korea on Tuesday. The reason for the trip was not immediately clear, according to Reuters.

Pyongyang on Tuesday rejected foreign speculations that North-South relations are becoming more stable, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Regional tensions are still dangerously high due to continuing bilateral armed forces maneuvers by the South and United States, the regime mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun said.