Faced with annoyed allies and unblinking enemies, North Korea is likely to pull the plug on the current crisis by test-firing a missile or two and declaring victory ahead of a national celebration on Monday, analysts say.

After weeks of escalating tensions and threatening nuclear war, shooting off a missile that causes no damage will give Kim Jong Un the opportunity to save face with his people — and appease his military — without inviting serious retaliation, experts say.

“It’s all a kind of Kabuki theater,” said Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian Washington think tank.

Observers caution, however, that with so much unknown about the political situation inside the secretive rogue state, it’s possible that North Korea could take more aggressive action that would goad a fed-up South Korea into a forceful reaction.
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“That would be uncharted waters,” said David Straub, associate director of Stanford’s Korean studies program.

Gordon Chang, author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World,” said Sunday is the most likely day for a missile launch.