Alam, Mohammed Badrul

Abstract
With overt declaration of nuclear weapon capability by North Korea in an explicit way and its withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the lukewarm response shown in the six-nations talk, situation in and around North East Asia has indeed become a matter of utmost concern.  While some analysts have proposed a series of rather benign steps such as restoring great harmony in the US-DPRK relations, building a stable coalition, engaging in serious and direct dialogue, developing a short-term proposal to test North Korean intentions and asking China to use its leverage vis-à-vis North Korea, others have advocated a more stringent approach including imposition of strict economic sanctions, initiation series of military steps ranging from blockade, embargo to outright invasion of North Korea for a regime range either collectively among willing nations. By way of comparison, lessons from South Asia where India and Pakistan, both of whom have acquired nuclear weapon capability and have been on the brink of nuclear crisis more than once will be tested with regard to series of confidence-building measures the two adversarial states have instituted both at the government to government level as well as at non-formal, people to people level.
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