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Mixed messages from the Trump administration regarding its policy on North Korea have further obscured what the next phase of the standoff on the Korean Peninsula could be.
"The Trump administration is in this strange lull, where a sort of false crisis has abated but without any progress. I think they were ready for a (nuclear) test and building up pressure for a tough response but then (it didn't happen)," John Delury, associate professor at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul, told CNN.
"It's kind of a dilemma and I think Kim Jong Un is playing with them like a cat right now."
Next week's South Korean elections could add to the uncertainty, with the leading candidate promising a new era of relations with Pyongyang.
Mixed messages
At a time of high tensions, conflicting signals from the Trump White House on whether their next move is military action, strict sanctions or diplomacy have put US allies in the region on edge.
"They need message discipline, they can't have the Secretary of Defense saying one thing and the Secretary of State saying something else," said Robert Kelly, associate professor of political science at Pusan National University.
"They've had like four or five different North Korea policies in the last few weeks."
On Sunday, speaking to Fox News, US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster said the issue would be resolved "one way or the other."
"What we prefer to do is work with others, China included, to resolve this situation short of military action," he said.
"Trump's getting a reputation pretty quickly out here that people can't believe what he says," Kelly said. "China's not going to believe anything the US says in six months if Trump doesn't (stop it)."
US, North Korean shows of force
Amid the tumult in Washington, the USS Vinson aircraft carrier finally arrived at the Korean Peninsula on Saturday and began drills with its South Korean navy counterparts.
The sub has since departed but neither the US nor the South Korean military would confirm its movements.
"It appears to be a new type of missile that has yet to be known. It will take some more time to get the results," South Korea's Ministry of Unification spokesman Lee Duk-haeng said at a press briefing on Monday, noting that the government was analyzing what type of missile it was.
The missile blew up harmlessly over land in North Korean territory, US Navy Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command, said.
South Korean election imminent
The standoff on the Korean Peninsula will be dealt another shock in a week when South Korea elects a new president.
The controversial THAAD unit officially became operational on Monday, according to US officials.
If he wins, Moon's policies would put him in stark contrast to his predecessor Park Geun-hye, whose administration enacted a hardline approach to North Korea.
It isn't just Trump and Moon's potential ideological differences that could damage the previously-close US-South Korea alliance, though.
Delury said attitudes towards the US leader are already souring in South Korea.
"There's a callousness towards America's own friends and allies in the region when he bluffs about military strikes and war that's already taking a toll (on) America's reputation," he said.