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First up on the show is Alex Wilson, a teacher at Woodrow Wilson school in Washington DC, who we visited back in May. He told us about the security at the school - 3 police officers, plus security guards.

Courtney is a student at the school, and she told us about their daily routine. SHe gets to school about 15-20 minutes early, to go through the metal detectors, and get her bag x-rayed. She says it makes her feel safe, but the school is so large. THere are three entrances covered by police and security, but there are 47 other doors that aren't guarded.

Phillip is another student at Woodrow Wilson - he says he feels safe, but he also feels safe on the Washington Metro, with little or no security, so it could just be a state of mind. He also pointed out that security is not the main issue - it's important - but they'd rather the state spent money on other areas such as building maintenance.

Their teacher Alex Wilson used to work in a corporate job, and he says that in both the corporate and the school world, technology has enhanced security over the last few years.

Marjorie Lindholm joined us next - she's a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre. She says security has been heightened dramatically at Columbine. After the massacre, there was talk of closing campuses and introducing metal detectors, things Marjorie described as "wonderful ideas" She says many school shootings tend to be copycats, so kids need to be educated - books about Columbine should be required reading, so people see the victim's perspective.

Courtney from Woodrow Wilson High School says it's important for schoolkids to be able to talk to their teachers, something Jean Davis from the Alabama Safe Schools project agrees with.

The comments are coming in from our listers too. Claire in Edinburgh says barricading schools is not the answer, and in an ideal world it wouldn't be necessary, but as a parent the thought of someone walking unchallenged into my children's school and hurting them in any way is far more terrifying.

And Sam has a list of ideas for better security.

1) Have bouncers body check all the kids going to school..
2) have a metal detector at the entrance!
3) lock the doors during class times..and late comers need to buzz to get in!
4) stop bullying in class..probably main cause of these crimes!

Anu asked Alex Wilson whether stronger security measures have a negative effect on students. He said it's something the students talk about all the time in their classes - the balance between safety and liberty.

Anu asked Courtney from Woodrow Wilson high if having more security would involve giving up freedom. Courtney said there was a fine balance to be struck between safety, and paranoia. Columbine survivor Marjorie told us about how that school now has more security cameras, police, and teachers monitoring the hall.

Therese in Washington has just returned to the US from the UK - she said that security in the two countries is probably similar. The culture of violence also exists in both countries. Bullying is big in the UK, and if guns were widely available, she says there might be more US-style shootings.

So how do you go about tackling the cultural aspects of school violence, such as bullying? Jean Davis from Alabama's safe school initiative says this is something that's an important part of safety, and with the internet, cyber-bullying is a bigger and bigger problem.

Next up, Beth from Montana joined us. She lives in a place which many people would see as a rural idyll - but she says that even there, security is a concern - lots of big buildings with multiple entrances which are hard to monitor.

And lots of you are emailing your views in too. Jude from Vancouver says "I second the concerns regarding bullying, speaking from personal experience. There are still too many administrators who ignore bullying until a student dares to fight back the only way he can, with a gun."

Next we went to some of our listeners around the world for their experiences. Margaret in Canada says school violence is not such a problem in her area. But she says there's really no need for most people to have guns anywhere. Pavan in Singapore agreed, saying that in his country the very strict laws regarding guns mean that these types of incidents don't happen. Why can't the US take measure to get rid of guns, he asked.

Derek joined us from Lagos, and said he wasn't worried about kids going to school - the risk in Nigeria is minimal, because citizens there don't have access to firearms.

And more emails came in from our listeners. Nitin says "my high school in Beaverton, Oregon has bullet proof glass on the bottom floors. But, more important than security measures, students need to ensure that no student at the school is ostracized our outcast so much that they feel that they need to turn on fellow students violently."

And Katie in the UK says "As long as America has a lax attitude to guns, some members of America's population will have a lax attitude to their use."

Next up on the show we were joined by listener Wesley Montgomery from New York, who gave his pitch for an idea that he wants to hear on the show. He wants to talk about benefits and treatment of black and Asian soldiers who fought for countries like France and Britain during WWII. His father fought in France for the US army during WWII. He met Moroccan and Senegalese soldiers fighting for France, and their stories have fascinated Wesley. He wants to hear more - so if you are one of these soldiers, or you know one, let us know.

Next we turn to today's major story - the announcement from North Korea that they are going to test nuclear weapons. We're speaking to South Koreans to see how they feel - about nuclear tests on their doorstep, and about the continuing division between the two Koreas.

First up we heard from Michael Chong, a volunteer with Free Korea Radio in Seoul, who told us that the news of nuclear test made him scared - if there's a nuclear conflict, all Koreans will be harmed.

We were joined in the studio by Dr Woo Seung Shin, chairman of the World Wide Korean Resident Society Convention. He is a South Korean who's been living in the UK for 36 years. He told us that when he grew up, the South Korean government was very against North Korea, so he grew up with an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. But young people these days know more about North Korea, and the people there, so they are more relaxed and sympathetic.

Next we were joined by Augustin Song, in Ottawa. He left the South-Western part of South Korea many years ago, but at 70 years old, he can remember when Korea was one country. He says the division of Korea after WWII was meant to achieve disarmament and furthering peace, but then there was a war between the two halves. He sees the division as one of the last remaining signs of the Cold War.

Jason in London used to live in Korea, and thinks it's sad that ideology separates these two people who are the same race and identity. His wife is Korean, with family back there, and he says when they used to live in South Korea, everyone would laugh at him when he dived to the floor at the sound of the air-raid siren. They didn't take the threat seriously then, and maybe they won't now, because a lot of things in the past haven't come to fruition.

But Dr Shin says this is serious, and many Koreans in the UK do take this seriously, but it could just be a negotiating strategy from the North Koreans.

Next up we had a couple more emails from our listeners. Sameer says "Yes North Korea should go ahead with nuclear test its important for saving its existence from threat posed by so called democratic and responsible nations who do not think twice before attacking weak countries without caring about world or even opinions of their citizens."

And Sarah from Oxford says "Though I do think it is worrying that NK want to test Nuclear Weapons, who are we to tell them what they can and can not do. Who gave the US the power over the world? Why don't they try talking to these countries without threats!! Sanctions on Iran, they have something the US want!!! What has NK got??"

So will there be a united Korea? Both Augustine and Dr Shin said they hoped they would see it in their lifetimes. And they were both very proud when the two Koreas marched together at the Sydney Olympics, and that if becomes UN Secretary General, all Koreans will be very proud.

Finally, Graham in Taiwan emailed us to ask "how can NK spend all this money on developing a weapon when they need to think more about feeding all the starving poor people. If it wasn't for the fact that NK had these weapons then no one in the world would want to attack them. Their country is a complete mess. I feel sorry for anyone who lives there."