President Donald Trump's cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un risks a return to crisis mode between Washington and Pyongyang, but both sides may be wary of letting the situation escalate into fears of war, as it did last year.
With a new exchange of supercharged rhetoric driving the United States and North Korea from the negotiating table, there is growing concern that words could be matched with action, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyberattacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington, analysts said.
But with Trump saying he is keeping the door open to diplomacy and North Korea apparently still looking to benefit from a thaw with South Korea, such steps could be constrained — or at least tempered — by a mutual desire to keep things from spiraling out of control.