Nuclear testing - Nightmare returns

OVER the last week we have been forced to recognise that the past is not a different country and that it can dominate the present in a profound way.

North Korea’s testing of a second nuclear device brings Cold War nightmares back to life and hangs another cloud over all of our futures.

President Barack Obama has said that the rogue state’s exercises has threatened international peace. “North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security,” he said

Japan and South Korea, the states most immediately threatened by North Korea, joined the US in condemning the test.

The international community has not had great success in convincing North Korea that it is not under threat, but it must be hoped that sanity will prevail before a rubicon is crossed.