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.
朝鲜构成当今世界上最危险的安全威胁之一。这一点早已被认识到,并不需要金正恩(Kim Jong Un)政权引爆又一枚核武装置来证明。目前尚不清楚本周的爆炸是否像平壤方面号称的那样涉及一枚氢弹(氢弹将代表着朝鲜在核武能力方面取得令人震惊的进展)。即便如此,平壤方面决定进行近10年来第四次地下核试验表明,朝鲜带来的困境有多么严重多么棘手。