EVEN the remote prospect of nuclear war is a chilling thought. However, the dangerous escalation between North Korea and the United States — both nuclear-armed states — shows no sign of abating. The root of the conflict lies in the Korean War that ended in 1953, which left the Korean peninsula divided between the communist North and capitalist South. Today, over two decades since the end of the Cold War, the seeds of conflict remain in this troubled peninsula. The latest crisis has been triggered by a series of provocative actions by Pyongyang. Last month, the North threatened to fire missiles at the US Pacific territory of Guam; this was followed by an even more troubling move in late August when Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido. On Sunday, the North claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb. While all these moves by the isolationist regime are indeed troubling, the response of the US — Pyongyang’s primary foe — has hardly been measured. For example, the US president has threatened the North with “fire and fury” should it attack America.

Aside from the fact that the relationship between Pyongyang and Washington has been characterised by decades of mutual hostility, at this time both states are headed by men who regularly indulge in provocative bluster. For example, Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s current strongman, termed his country’s intercontinental ballistic missiles a “gift for the American [expletive]” on America’s independence day. Mr Trump, hardly known for his subtle language, has said that “talking” to the North is not the answer, and that “they only understand one thing” alluding to the use of force. One tends to differ with Mr Trump; talking is indeed the answer to this crisis, as the alternative is far more horrific. Even South Korea, a staunch American ally and the state that arguably has most to lose in case of war, has differed with Washington’s approach and called for “peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”. All stakeholders, especially the North and the US, must first stop issuing threats against each other. Second, saner minds on all sides must resist the march towards war. China and Russia have influence over the North, which they should use to urge Pyongyang to climb down. On the other side, cooler minds within the US establishment need to prevent their country from getting involved in another disastrous conflict.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2017