Brinkmanship over North Korea spells danger for the region

FINALLY, the "elephant in the room" - the looming threat of a North Korean nuclear or chemical weapon attack on Japan - has been acknowledged. Japanese newspapers ran front-page stories on Tuesday on preparations to deal with the potentially terrifying consequences of such an attack.

"Cities and prefectures prepare to deal with missile attacks", said The Japan Times in a typical headline, while Reuters reported "surging demand for nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking air purifiers" in recent days as "North Korea tension mounts".

The rest of the world has been studiously ignoring the threat of some sort of confrontation or conflagration in East Asia, resulting not only from the North Korea "threat" but also from the thousands of fighter jet scrambles and maritime incidents every year now between Japan and China. "Pretend the 'elephant' isn't there and it will go away" appears to be the prevailing mood, and meanwhile behave as though "business as usual" is the only way forward. But the elephant has not gone away. It has just gone on getting bigger and more menacing with every passing year. And now even more so, as a US aircraft carrier-led "armada" of ships enters Korean waters, with naval vessels from a complicit Japan joining them.