It is quiet on the Korean peninsula, almost too quiet. Some 10 months have elapsed since Barack Obama was woken up at 3.55am to be told that North Korea was firing at a South Korean island, raising tensions on the peninsula to their highest level in years. That makes it 11 months since Pyongyang revealed it was pursuing a second nuclear programme based on uranium enrichment and 18 months since North Korean submarines torpedoed a South Korean naval ship, killing 46 sailors.
北韓半島現在很平靜,幾乎算得上是太平靜了。今天距巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)在凌晨3:55被叫醒、並被告知北韓正在炮轟南韓一座島嶼(北韓半島的緊張局勢隨之升至多年來的最高級別)已有10個月左右。而平壤方面披露它正在發展第二個基於鈾濃縮的核項目則是11個月前的事;北韓潛艦用魚雷擊沉一艘南韓海軍艦艇、導致46名水兵喪生更是18月前的事了。