North Korea has once again flexed muscle by defiantly testing a nuclear weapon, and also firing over six short range missiles in a show of its nuclear capability and prominence as a regional actor. These has brought to light a compelling global concern about the dangers of nuclear weapons and the potential of such deadly weapons falling into the hands of non-state actors.

Global powers such as the United States, China, Russia, and Britain expressed concern and outrage on North Korea’s defiance, and breaking away from agreements made under the Six-Party Talks.

Regional actors and North Korea’s neighbors such as Japan and South Korea manifested outrage and raised their respective military alerts to higher heights. The United States together with South Korean forces have also embarked on enforcing a previous UN Resolution calling for a search and seizure of ships carrying weapons and nuclear materials to North Korea.

This has further escalated the situation to another level, with North Korea pronouncing such US-South Korea moves as an act of war. The North has also announced that it will strike targets in both South Korea and Japan upon interception of any ships or missiles.

Following the escalation of the situation, United Nations Security Council also called for an emergency session in discussing sanctions against North Korea. A show of unity among Security council members in discussing the North Korean situation demonstrated some hope, according to pundits. How that will play out remains to be seen.

However, as the world continues to watch the dramatic unfolding of events in the Korean Peninsula, the questions of how the world responds to North Korea, and should diplomacy or military efforts be a fundamental tenet in dealing with the situation, continues to be heated debate of our times.

In dealing with North Korea, it is important to understand that the Korean nation has become an emboldened secretive nuclear state. And in a world tackling major crisis such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, a tougher diplomatic approach to the North Korean impasse is what the international community needs in such critical times.

Although a nuclear armed and defiant North Korea is a threat to the Korean Peninsula’s security and the potential of nuclear arsenals becoming available to non-state actors. The prominent role of China and Russia in collaboration with the United States may certainly force North Korea in returning to the Six – Party Talks. The New York Times editorial titled North Korea Tests dated May 27th 2009, could not have said it better, that:

There is no military option here. Diplomacy - backed by stiff sanctions - is the only hope for walking North Korea back from the brink. And for now, China - not Washington - is the prime player.

It should be noted that both China and Russia have vested interest in North Korea. As North Korea’s major trade partner in oil and other economic sectors, China’s leadership role in a global outrage against North Korea may force the North to join the international community’s efforts in containing the nuclear impasse. A US - South Korean military confrontation with North Korea may not only draw Japan into the fray, but an influx of millions of North Korean refugees into China, causing another global humanitarian conundrum. And that is not what is needed at such crucial times - a global economic meltdown and the menace of three major global conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan).

A combination of sanctions and tough diplomacy that is backed by China, the United States, Russia, Japan, Britain, and South Korea are what is needed in dealing with the North Korean impasse. Only history will therefore judge the world's hegemonic leaders for drawing our already threatened planet into a nuclear war.

Hopefully US President Obama, Chinese President, Hu Jintao, and President Dmitriy Medvedev will see eye to eye in confronting such a deadly pending global conundrum.