By Kassel Franco Garibay
During the past month, tensions surrounding North Korea have been on the rise. Following the country’s first nuclear test during the Trump administration on September 3, the United States and three other countries have called for a second emergency meeting of the United Nations’ Security Council to discuss the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
On August 8, the Washington Post reported that North Korea had successfully created missile-ready nuclear weapons. That news was followed with President Trump’s statement that if North Korea continued to threaten the United States, they would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” The situation continued to escalate until, this past weekend, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake registered at a North Korean testing site. The US Geological Survey stated that a hydrogen bomb with a 100-kiloton yield had been detonated. According to experts this device was around seven times stronger than “Little Boy”, the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, condemned the actions of DPRK since it “undermined international non-proliferation and disarmament efforts and is also profoundly destabilizing for regional security”. According to Trump’s twitter, the United States is also considering stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea, while the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) urged all countries to comply with UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea.
Students at Drew University shared their concerns about the matter. “It’s scary because we don’t really know what they are doing, and we don’t really have access to anything. All we ever hear is some small news outlet, so all of this is scary” Antonio Arce (‘18) stated. He later proceeded to add that, in his opinion, the situation was worsened by the unstable political climate in the United States. Mason Scher (’20) said, “Of course I am concerned, especially with who we have in office and certain emotions that may be present there and how they may be perceived in the world.”
Despite the fragile political situation between the U.S. and North Korea, many hope that there will be a peaceful conclusion. “I have faith that our international community will work toward a nonviolent way to address this horrible situation. And I pray that our world gets close to a place where these types of issues and threats cannot be made anymore, and that we can grow as a world community, because that is what we are,” stated Anthony Tagliaferro (’20).
Currently, no action has been taken.
