Terrible consequences of ladder of escalation

The World Wars and particularly the destruction unleashed between 1939 and 1945 shocked the world into action which resulted in the formation of the United Nations and greater economic and cultural integration in Europe.

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States rested on the MAD principle of mutually assured destruction, where neither side would be able to defeat the other due to large arsenals of nuclear weapons.

When the Iron Curtain came down between 1989 and 1991, there was great hope that long-lasting global peace could be a reality.

The former Soviet Union dissolved into its former independent nations and Russia embraced a more democratic system of government and a market economy.

The other great communist state of China has also become integrated into the world economy.

China has too much to lose from any outbreak of hostilities with its neighbours or with the United States and its allies.

While other wars and hostilities have occurred at different times and in different places around the world, there has been nothing approaching the scale of the two terrible wars of the last century.

After the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the world should need no reminder of the horrible consequences of nuclear weapons.

However, it is the isolation - self-imposed and through international sanctions - of North Korea that increases global concerns about the fragility of peace.

Hostilities in the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice. Technically North and South Korea remain at war.

During a visit to South Korea, it was obvious from my discussion with government officials that North Korea's military and nuclear ambitions are never far from their minds.

While we hope that North Korea is unlikely to ever have the capacity to threaten global conflict on the scale that erupted during the two great World Wars, it does have the capacity to threaten global stability through its nuclear weapons development.