Should we worried about North Korea?

[Sopranos Republican]

I'm only worried for South Korea or Japan's sake. But of course seeing Korea reunified (under South Korea's government) is something we should all hope for.

[Paul Kemp]

Perhaps worried in the sense that the United States could get bogged down in another armed conflict, rather than sustain a nuclear attack.

[Beet]

Well, I mean you could say
"Surely they aren't that stupid to run a communistic regime in the 21st century?"
"Surely they aren't that stupid to choose guns over butter?"
"Surely they aren't that stupid to starve their own people?"

And yet they are. And yet they are.

WOULD YOU PLEASE CALM THE HELL DOWN?!...

Yeah, you're really sending off calm vibes there, dude.

This is not "every sensationalistic news story." If I were worried about everything North Korea said, I would have been worried years ago. Generally I've ignored them until now. The problem now is that this is worse than it's ever been. Furthermore, the trajectory of North Korea has been downward for over 10 years ago; which is practically my entire life of being aware of these things.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

True, but that's a bit of a logical circle. If they had done something that jeopardized the survival of the regime already, the only real proof of it would have been the regime no longer existing. My only point is that they don't think the way we do and to think that they do is a mistake. Everyone seems to just be dismissing NK's actions at an attempt at 'bargaining' or 'blackmail' for Western material concessions. But think about it this way: If what they were after was material concessions from the West, why not follow the Chinese path of opening and reform years ago? There would be plenty of Western multinationals with no scruples willing to pour money into North Korea. So isn't something missing from that theory, then?

[anvi]

Actually, the way North Korea has been governed for some time reminds me a little bit of some aspects of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, only stuck in neutral.  The North Korean leadership doesn't want to open its society to multi-national business because that would require loosening the hold on power by the central government, and those guys aren't about to do that.  So, they resort to other means of acquiring resources, and constantly leveling these kinds of threats is one of them.  But, as noted, these kinds of measures presently taken by Kim also seem to me to have internal political purposes, namely to shore up control over the military,   

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I still think North Korea are bluffing. Surely they aren't that stupid to provoke the threat of war?

I agree that they're bluffing, but that doesn't make the situation danger-free. If both sides keep ratcheting up the tension, eventually someone will make a mistake or have an accident, and then we're back to potentially looking at a real war.

Edited to add:

The U.S. has now announced a new tit-for-tat policy.

"American officials described the new “counterprovocation” plan as calling for an immediate but proportional “response in kind” — hitting the source of any North Korean attack with similar weapons."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/world/asia/us-and-south-korea-devise-plan-to-counter-north.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

[DINGO Joe]

I guess Kim Jong Whathisname kind of fell off the map with all the other hoopla.