The next North Korea crisis could come this year

• Tensions are high between North Korea and South Korea, and it could soon erupt into a crisis.
• North Korea is expected to provoke conflict before the US election in November.
• An expert says that could drag the US into a clash on the peninsula.

Tensions are flaring between North Korea and South Korea, and it could lead to conflict sooner rather than later.

While there's no indication full-scale war is coming, a provocation from North Korea — heightened in an election year for South Korea and the US — could prompt retaliation from South Korea's hawkish president, an expert says.