correspondent richard engel is monitoring the situation for us from seoul. richard, good morning. reporter: good morning, natalie, secretary kerry arrives here tomorrow. he ll also visit china and japan. and it s likely while he s in the region, north korea will carry out this missile test seen here as a provocation. while most of asia and u.s. forces in the region are on alert, pyongyang is preparing for a party, decorating the streets even as it threatens nuclear war. it was one year ago today that kim jong-un came to power. we were there to witness his first speech, praising the military. for the parades and the rollouts of military hardware. since then, kim has proven to be more reckless than his father kim jong-il. analysts suggest he may be trying to prove himself to his generals. more parades are expected this weekend. a widely anticipated missile test could be part of them. there is another way to look at this crisis. unlike south korea, which has a modern economy,