Why North Korea may have halted its missile launches

ODD - no missiles from North Korea this week? This is not meant to be facetious but launches of projectiles from the so-called "Hermit Kingdom" (or "rogue state") towards Japan have become so commonplace lately that Tokyo is feeling almost neglected by the lack of such threats in recent days.

Could it be that North Korea's strongman leader Kim Jong-un is repenting of his evil ways of lobbing ballistic missiles towards Japan and beyond, or that the imminent arrival of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the region has scared off Mr Kim for the moment?

It is almost certainly neither of these things. If you want an explanation for Pyongyang's apparent sudden lapse into relative passivity, you need look no further that Korea's other capital, Seoul, where former president Park Geun-hye has just been removed from office by court order.