Terrible consequences of ladder of escalation

It has been reported that North Korea is currently preparing to conduct a nuclear bomb test, in the wake of its failed ballistic missile test.

This will be in direct and aggressive defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions explicitly banning such tests.

Unlike its recent missile launch, which North Korea claimed was to launch a satellite, there can be no possible excuse for the detonation of a nuclear weapon.

In the past North Korea has been accused of proliferating nuclear technology and selling arms to Iran.

Any further escalation in its nuclear program will increase the already heightened concerns about North Korea's links to the Iranian nuclear program.

There were many provocative and lurid statements from former leader Kim Jong-il

Any faint hope of a change under son Kim Jong-un has faded rapidly.

Kim Jong-un delivered a speech recently in which he urged the military "Let's move on toward our final victory".

The South has made it clear that it will retaliate against any acts of aggression, in the wake of claims that North Korea sank a South Korean warship and shelled an island of South Korea.

The North Korean regime stands before a ladder of escalation.

If it chooses to place a foot upon even the first rung, the tinderbox that is the Korean peninsula could well explode with unpredictable consequences.

The international community must do everything in its power to prevent it.

We must learn from the lessons of history.