As reports from multiple news outlets came that Pyongyang had authorized the detonation of its fifth nuclear bomb – with the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirming those reports early Friday afternoon – most Seoulites were going about their business as though it were any other day in the capital.

When stopped and asked about Friday’s incident, one told NK News that he hoped for mediation on the peninsula on North Korea’s missile and nuclear program, but one expressed a lack of surprise after receiving the notification on his smartphone. An uncertainty that they shared in common, however, was how much, if any, leverage the U.S.-ROK alliance had in negotiating with Pyongyang or through Beijing.