From the official Korean Central News Agency:

"If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all."

A week ago, in response to U.S. threats to inspect cargo coming to and from North Korea, the same news agency vowed that North Korea would treat such actions as a declaration of war of promised a "100 or 1,000-fold retaliation with merciless military strike."

So if we intercept a cargo ship, say the Kang Nam, which is suspected of delivering weapons to Myanmar, it will provoke a war which will wipe out the U.S.

Uh, OK. Better stay away from those cargo ships.

With its U.N. allies faltering, the North Koreans are afraid of an American led blockade that would curtail one of its only sources of hard currency. Lacking any negotiating leverage other than its army and missile arsenal, North Korea has once again fallen back on the "I'm f-ing crazy! Don't mess with me" defense.

But they're not crazy, or at least not crazy to the point of suicide. As I wrote in a recent post, the "1,000-fold" thread is a bluff, and this latest threat is even bluffier. North Korea can devastate Seoul, but they cannot wipe anyone off the map, least of all the U.S. The promised missile test on the 4th will be a dud. Unless they're extraordinarily lucky, I predict that the missile will not go anywhere near Hawaii. That's probably better for North Korea anyway. Americans get a little crazy themselves when attacked on their own soil.

In short, North Korea has no real navy, no real allies, and no real economy. They can't stop sanctions if the U.S. and allies impose them. All they have to negotiate with is one suicidal attack, and so that's all we hear about from their mouthpieces whenever they're unhappy. While we should take the risk of an attack seriously, we should not take the threats at face value. The North Korea regime won't commit suicide for a ship.

Late update: Rumors that Kim Jong Il will soon cede powers to his son, Kim Jong Un.

Late late update: The North Korean government is running dangerously low on epithets and histrionic adjectives. Please help avert war with our North Korean Threat Generator™.