North Korea has quietly removed two medium-range missile from their eastern coastline.  U.S. officials state that this is possibly a sign of weakening hostility on the Korean peninsula despite no official word from Pyongyang that North Korea was lowering its military posture.

The missiles had been put in place to back up dictator Kim Jong-un’s declarations that North Korea would bomb South Korea, Japan or the United States because of United Nations sanctions placed after the North’s third nuclear bomb test.  The North was also angry about joint South Korea/United States military drills despite the fact the drills happen every year.

However, not all U.S. officials were optimistic about the North’s actions.

“What we have seen recently is a provocation pause,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters without specifically commenting on the missile removal.  “And we think that’s obviously beneficial to efforts to ensure we have peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”

One of the missiles with an estimated 2,000 mile range had been fueled and ready for launch.  Even a test firing of the missile would violate a 2006 United Nations resolution banning North Korea from conducting any “further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile.”

North Korea is still in the process of restarting nuclear reactors that could produce nuclear weapons.