While some countries were taking a major step toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, the US and its allies were focusing on ineffective, counter-productive sanctions against North Korea.
People watch news of missile test on a public TV screen in North Korea.
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
Regardless of how the US sending an aircraft carrier group to the Korean Peninsula plays out, the international community will ultimately have to accept and learn to manage a nuclear North Korea.
The UN is debating a total ban on all nuclear weapons.
Wikimedia
Talks begin today at the United Nations to negotiate a total ban of nuclear weapons. Over 3,600 scientists have signed an open letter supporting the ban.
The use of nuclear weapons – arguably the most devastating of all weapons of mass destruction – is currently not necessarily prohibited under international law.
A North Korean ballistic rocket launching drill, undated photo.
REUTERS/ North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
Tensions in Asia may soon boil over. If U.S. leaders fail to seek pathways to peace, the consequences may be grim, warns former National Security Council member.
The US’s 1952 ‘Ivy Mike’ test.
National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office, via Wikimedia Commons
Nuclear power was a cornerstone of Japan’s energy strategy for decades, until the Fukushima disaster. The current government wants to keep some nuclear reactors open, but has lost public support.
Onlookers in Seoul, South Korea, watch news of another North Korean ballistic missile test.
Kim Hong-Ji