Could China's military be pulling the strings in Pyongyang?
As investors try to divine what end-game the different players behind the recent heightened tensions around the Korean peninsula might have in mind, at least one broker mused aloud about the possibility that part of China's establishment, namely its military, might believe it has something to gain from the course of recent events.
For analysts at SP Angel, Pyongyang's threat to fire missiles near the US Pacific territory of Guam - which might provoke a US reaction - dovetailed nicely with China's plans in the South China Seas and North Pacific.
"This suggests to us that the Chinese military may be pulling more strings in Pyongyang than we had previously considered, hence their refusal to cut oil the supply to North Korea," the broker said in a research note sent to clients.
"So is Kim Jong-un acting for the Chinese military using North Korea to push the US and others out of the South China Seas and the Pacific?," they said.
The analysts also asked aloud how North Korea had been able to get its hands on so much military technology and the capacity to build nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"The world has not faced this form of brinkmanship since the end of the Cold War. But is it brinkmanship or simply the beginning of the end for North Korea?"