The Korean Peninsula is a particularly risk-prone region in the Asia-Pacific. Locked in a dispute with its southern neighbor since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, North Korea eventually armed itself with nuclear weapons. Hostility on the peninsula has lingered over the past decades. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region is steadily accumulating nuclear risks through the spread of nuclear capabilities, the hardening of strategic rivalries and the rising possibility of miscalculations. In other words, what may appear manageable in isolation becomes uncontrollable collectively. The Asia-Pacific region may not be akin to the Europe of 1914 that collapsed under the weight of rigid alliance structures, accelerating arms competition and misplaced confidence that systemic complexity could provide stability. Nevertheless, the possibility that institutional fragility and the advent of emerging and disruptive technologies could combine to create an increasingly dangerous security environment merits serious consideration. The central question is whether the region's governments and strategic commu