As the drums of war continue to sound, the entire world looks in apprehension toward the Middle East. As the world’s attention is drawn away, a certain nation finds itself having a chance to progress its own nuclear capabilities.

The nation of North Korea, now ignored, is a greater threat than those threats at which the Western democracies direct their glare.

At present, of the so-called “Axis of Evil”, only Iraq is being directly observed. The call of the United States has shifted the world’s view toward this oil-rich country that may have weapons of mass destruction.

A formidable danger is present in Asia that is being untended. North Korea has for years been firing test missiles into the Pacific Ocean near Japan, to the great dismay of the Japanese.

It would be expected that a nation that is known to have great weapons of mass destruction should be considered a greater danger than one in which becoming a threat is now only a possibility.

This nuclear testing by North Korea, which is in direct defiance of a 1997 agreement to end its nuclear weapons program, seems to be only a minor concern for the West at the moment. However this testing carries a greater possibility of destruction than any country in the Middle East.

Consider that the Asian nation not only has this nuclear capability but also has the same chemical and biological weaponry that Iraq once or does possess.

The Asian nations recognize this threat as they protest American intentions concerning Iraq, calling for a peaceful end to the conflict rather than another war.

They make attempts at calling attention to the dire situation in which they are involved, yet the West, especially the United States, does nothing more than send a warning in the form of a phone call to the North Korean president Kim Jong-Il. Nothing more.

This great threat in Asia becomes more severe as it is ignored. The nations should direct their attention to a country known to be a threat rather than focus on one that at the present only has the potential to become dangerous.

North Korea should be immediately called to bring an end to its program of weapons development and proliferation, so that this great threat is ended.