That Bug!

The Bug in question is none other than Kim Jong Il, the Glorious Leader of the DPRK, better known as North Korea. (Sidenote: DPRK stands for Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea...of which the state is shooting 2 for 4; the state is neither Democratic nor a Republic...They do have plenty of people though...and it is located on the Korean peninsula, so there you go). Ol' "Kim Fancy Glasses" has not been sighted publicly in quite some time, leading many in the intelligence field to speculate that he is either ill(not a pun), dying, or dead. Nonetheless, the DPRK is wasting no time in breaking in the new US President (so much for honeymoon periods!) by posturing their offensive military capabilities, and saber rattling in the wake of (and prior to) Secy of State Clinton's visit to Asia, even going so far as to threaten all out war against the US and South Korea and calling for the reunification of the peninsula.

What does this all mean? Simple, The DPRK knew that making threats during the Clinton Administration meant US money and food aid...making threats during the Bush (43rd) Administration meant sanctions and, well, death by starvation...The DPRK is simply playing their hand with a new dealer at the table. How will this end? Nobody knows - either in military conflict with a million man army, or a peaceful settlement in which The DPRK agrees to give up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for development assistance. The reason that the outcome is so unpredictable is because anyone that is not the DPRK has asymmetrical information, meaning that The DPRK knows more about us than we know about them and this makes for tough negotiations. The DPRK is a notoriously closed regime, perhaps the most closed of the 193 UN recognized states. They restrict every form of outside communication from entering or leaving the country; only the government officials know what is really happening outside of the state's borders. Everyone else is fed from the propaganda machine. To get a sense of how eerily twisted North Korea is, watch this brilliant short film series by an insane journalist that bribed his way into the state and made a documentary...this will creep you out!