It’s seven minutes to midnight and the clock is ticking. No longer is the minute hand frozen in place, hinged between the ten and eleven. This is a pivotal moment in history, one that will make us or break us. Not since 1988 has the Doomsday Clock displayed such a time, one so eerily close to midnight. It was then, before the Soviet Union fell, that the arms race was slowly halting and the time was six minutes to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 and is the most recognizable symbol of nuclear danger to date. The Doomsday Clock (also known as the Bulletin Clock) has been relaying the impending disaster which is believed to await the world. Martyl Langsdorf created the clock for the premiere issue of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist. Since then it has been used on each cover, with midnight representing atomic destruction and the minute hand’s sometimes slow, sometimes speedy, approach as our warning.
The most recent upgrade on the clock was in 2002, with the lack of progress being made on global nuclear disarmament and the United States’ withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. It was then that terrorists began to seek use of nuclear and biological weapons. Since then the minute hand has been frozen in time leaving one question on our minds: which way will it go?
It was on Feb. 10 of last year at which time North Korea finally admitted, with little surprise to the CIA, to having nuclear weapons. Since it is believed that North Korea has been interested in nuclear weapons for 50 years, it is apparent that their dedication to avenge themselves, since the Korean War, isn’t faltering.
It was just as recent as Oct. 9, 2006, only days ago, that North Korea claims to have tested a nuclear weapon underground. Well, the world is responding at full throttle speed, with the United States, China, Australia, Japan and South Korea all in agreement that the testing cannot go unpunished. But how do you handle someone like Kim Jong II, a tyrant with a 50-year-old grudge and newly created nukes on his hands? That’s a question that’s been haunting the Bush administration for some time now. A question which may have an answer none of us want to hear.
This, like every other incident since Bush’s arrival in office, is only another door opened for the administration’s ever-growing population of haters. These are the events that allow for insult, on Bush, his cabinet and his policies. Yet it is not a time for insult, not a time that we should be concerned with showing hatred, but instead a time in which we should be supporting the decisions of our representatives.
We are a nation weakened by citizens too concerned with standing out, opposing the norm and verbally slaughtering all forms of authority. I’m no fan of George W. Bush, that’s for sure. But I’m also no fan of distracting the administration with our blind insults (blind to an occupation none of us will ever have to endure), showing other nations that our unity is collapsing and having the fear of nuclear war looming over our heads.
So, I’m curious to see how the United States, the super power of today, will handle the current situation. I know that it’s important that we not stand alone and having nations such as China and South Korea on our side is chief in the matter. How will we punish North Korea? Is it even our place to punish them, to do the deciding on what is acceptable to the rest of the world, with rumors (more or less realities) of our own nuclear weapons constantly flying? Where can we go from here?
Several polls online show that Americans are leaning more towards diplomacy, by exerting diplomatic pressure and imposing economic sanctions (68%), than using military force (20%) with others still unsure (12%). These statistics could be the result of fear, the idea that by using military means in North Korea we may spark a nuclear showdown. Since 62% of people polled on whether or not they consider North Korea to be a major threat to national security of the United States said yes, it seems likely that fear is inspiring our answers.
So the minute hand waits, perhaps with movements too minuscule for the naked eye to see. The clock displays the time where we stand, a time where our nation and the citizens within must once again prove itself to one another and the rest of the world. With each treaty, agreement and comprise we set back what may be inevitable: our doom. Yet, with every failure, miscommunication and delayed response we edge the minute hand forward to a place we’ve yet to venture.
Time is a natural necessity, a law in itself. So it seems that we may prolong our doom for any length of time that we desire, but our time will eventually run out and our clock, suspended for so many years in a warp, will finally bring us to midnight.
All statistical information in this article was found at http://www.pollingreport.com/korea.htm. All information regarding Doomsday Clock was found at http://www.thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/timeline.htm.

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