The world is on tenterhooks yet again as North Korea conducted its sixth and its most powerful nuclear test of about 70-100 kilotons on Sunday. Just a week earlier, it unleashed a missile that flew over Hokkaido in northern Japan before landing in the Pacific. Kim Jong-un’s actions are those of a rogue state, uncaring of what the world thinks, including closest ally China. Further, it has rattled the sabre saying it detonated a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile, although experts doubt this. The US President’s rhetoric has also risen in direct proportion to the scale of Kim’s insouciance. South Korea, dreading possible annihilation, has taken the first counter-measure in firing missiles into the sea Monday to simulate an attack on its northern neighbour’s nuclear test site. This one-upmanship by the North and manoeuvres by the South in the Korean peninsula will change geopolitics in not just the region, but worldwide. The detonation on the eve of China hosting the Brics summit was embarrassing to Kim’s lone friend, but the real truth remains a mystery. It’s possible China is using North Korea to ratchet up tensions for the US, much like it uses Pakistan to pile pressure on India. Also, experience has taught us sanctions have little meaning as China is always averse to steps that might lead to Kim’s regime collapsing, with the South and its US ally invading the North and coming right up to its doorstep. The idea floated in Mr Trump’s tweet to stop all trade with any nation doing business with North Korea is too extreme to consider, though a total trade war would be disastrous for China.What is being speculated upon is where the options lie in reining in the maverick despot with Goebbelsian control over the minds of his people. Inside the US too, the talk from the President’s key officials is about weighing the situation with sobriety. But diplomacy and sanctions have failed to deter North Korea’s determined march to the highest nuclear capability, with the big jumps modern science facilitates. There was even talk of India playing a role in dousing Kim’s fire, but that may have had water poured on it with New Delhi denouncing the latest thermonuclear test. Whoever can talk to Kim must, however, be encouraged at a time when brinkmanship sees the world on the edge of a nuclear disaster it can ill afford in the 21st century. China is the key to solving this puzzle, but it refuses to work on resolving the crisis while being threatened with trade sanctions. However insurmountable the stumbling blocks may appear, the only real option is to bring Kim to the negotiating table. Even Donald Trump, armed with the handy nuclear football, should know that.
