North Korea presents one of the most dangerous security threats in the world today. This has long been recognised and it did not require another nuclear detonation by the regime of Kim Jong Un to prove the point. It remains unclear whether this week’s explosion involved a hydrogen bomb, as Pyongyang boasts, a move that would represent an alarming advance in its weapons capability. Even so, its decision to conduct the fourth underground test in nearly a decade shows how serious, and yet intractable, the North Korean dilemma has become.
北韓構成當今世界上最危險的安全威脅之一。這一點早已被認識到,並不需要金正恩(Kim Jong Un)政權引爆又一枚核武裝置來證明。目前尚不清楚本週的爆炸是否像平壤方面號稱的那樣涉及一枚氫彈(氫彈將代表著北韓在覈武能力方面取得令人震驚的進展)。即便如此,平壤方面決定進行近10年來第四次地下核試驗表明,北韓帶來的困境有多麼嚴重多麼棘手。