The rest of the world might be totally freaking out about North and South Korea lobbing artillery shells at one another. Kim Jong-il, on the other hand, is strolling about the seaside coast of his workers' paradise, inspecting a duck farm and a soy sauce shop.

While the United States has tried to portray itself as calm but firm amidst the crisis, North Korea's state media has been projecting an air of almost detached confidence about the Dear Leader. The guy is nearly blasé, and not at all spooked by the potential for South Korean or American responses to the trouble he's caused. Since the day of the attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island, Kim's mouthpieces at the Korean Central News Agency have depicted him conducting the humdrum affairs of state near the waters he just sparked an international tizzy in.

Yesterday, Kim wasn't huddling with his generals, bellowing from a bunker, or inspecting the troops. He was inspecting the Ryongyon Seaside Fish Farm and getting a pun laden "bird's-eye view" of a duck farm in North Korea's Ryongyon district by the Yellow Sea. Today,with the U.S.S. George Washington supercarrier now sailing Kim's way, everybody's favorite dictator is taking a leisurely stroll in a soy sauce factory.

North Korea hasn't been silent about the attack. They've laid out their account of the Yeonpyeong incident in radio broadcasts and communiques from the army, claiming the attack was merely a response to the "reckless military provocation" of South Korea's artillery tests in the area and threatening "merciless military counter-action" should South Korea venture "even 0.001 mm" into North Korea's territorial waters. But Kim's business-as-usual shows the North Koreans want to show they're not afraid of more conflict.

So why is Kim so seemingly serene? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that China's state-controlled media has been largely sympathetic to North Korea and its accounting of the incident. China's Global Times published an editorial saying "North Korea showed its toughness through the skirmish" and blamed the tension on America and South Korea's unwillingness to engage with North Korea's underlying concerns and preference for sanctions. China's state television has also been playing up North Korean media reports that place blame for the shelling on South Korea. All of which could be that the Hermit Kingdom isn't likely to face any pressure from its most powerful neighbor and ally, China. No wonder Kim is officially chillaxed.

Photo: Paramount Pictures

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