With the latest threats from both the DPRK and the U.S., Pyongyang’s neighbor, China, has warned that there will be no winner if war breaks out.

But, while this current stand-off seems unpredictable CGTN’s Jack Barton shows how the current tensions have been building up for years- rather than weeks or months.

DPRK and South Korea have had tense relations for years.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned there can be no winner in a war between the U.S. and the DPRK over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Since the conflict on the Korean peninsula drew to a close in the early 1950s there have been plenty of clashes between two sides that remain technically at war. That’s why the contents of the South’s war museum stretch to the present day.

There have also been exchanges of artillery fire all of which has led to deaths and casualties on both sides. But there have been attempts at peace, such as the South’s Sunshine policy in the 1990’s, which sought closer ties while delivering financial aid.

“That was quite useful, but you can’t deal with DPRK only with the sunshine policy,” said Kim Yong-Hyun, director of North Korean studies at the Dongguk University. “With the progress of the nuclear program, you have to use sunshine policy and also coercion.”

But others say the sunshine policy failed by creating a cycle of provocation in return for aid.

Having shut the aid tap to Pyongyang the situation began to deteriorate.

Peace talk between Seoul and Pyongyang were held back in late 2015, but the DPRK pressed ahead with missile launches and its fifth nuclear test. In return, the South revealed it does have a standby plan for the assassination of Kim Jong-un.

Another factor leading to the current crisis is that Pyongyang is focused on building a nuclear missile that can reach the United States.

Some analysts say the tipping point could be a successful 6th nuclear test by Pyongyang as well as the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, though the universal hope here is the current tensions remain a war of words.

Professor Sung-yoon Lee on DPRK-US tension

Sung-yoon Lee, professor at the Kim-Koo Korea Foundation, and an assistant professor at Tufts University joins CGTN America to discuss tensions on the Korean peninsula and threats between the DPRK and the U.S.