Pay Attention To Us!!! we are insignificant!!

No, they have a direct military hotline between both countries to avert war.

They just closed that down and told South Korea that they've officially cancelled their treaty of non-aggression: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21709917

They'll have to actually carry out one of their threats some day. Right?

Some Americans will belive anything they see on the news or read in papers lol

So what part of what has happened isn't true?

The BBC reported that the DPRK cut communications with the ROK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21709917#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Its very rare that the DPRK has gone to this length with blustering. They may not do anything, but its certain that the steps they've taken have been rather anomalous in the past ~20 years.

Times change, of course, but unless they have become so internally deluded as to believe they can win a full-scale war, then they won't do it. Nobody ever starts a war that they don't think they can win, unless they feel they have absolutely no other choice (and North Korea has lots of other choices for now).

And at the end of the day, North Korea can't win. Unless they had unconditional commitment from China (which they don't) even if they managed to reduce South Korea to cinders somehow, or launch a few nukes at the US west coast, they'd lose a war of attrition.

My belief is that Kim Jong-Un is stepping up his brinksmanship game to demonstrate his capability, both within North Korea and to the rest of the world, that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

Someone posted the following rumor that's going around in defense circles in South Korea. Take it for what its worth (but its a plausible explanation):

______________

I have heard one rumor that the food shortage has been so bad this winter and they are not going to have surplus to get them through to first harvest come next fall unless they get massive food aid over the summer if that is true and combined with strong sanctions that could cripple the power structure to pay off top officials in power to remain loyal the government could be faced with massive unrest so the only option for Kim could be to start a war to try and maintain power or toss the cards in and seek asylum in China as the government collapses.

Ha Ha! Watch out for what? More bluff and bluster? Shit even China has had a gutsfull of this petulent child of a country. DPRK are as much of a threat as a kitten. It might biteandscratch a bit, but in the end it can so easily be crushed that it's not going to seek to draw too much blood.

They are run by some Megalomanic tyrants. But one thing you can rely on with these peopleis a very strong sense of self preservation and a desire to remain in power for life. So in the end they are not going to do anything that gives America cause to go ballistic on them.

I think people in RoK living close to the DMZ have a bit of cause for concern and my sympathies are with them. But for any Americans thinking of stocking up their 1950s bomb shelters, wake up from your delusions.

The only thing that I hope is that if they do nuke anyone, in response the allies do not nuke them. Nuking them would be of little use and would just be used against the allies as a political tool in the future.

That wasn't what I meant.

I When I said "Watch out", I mean that from the standpoint of hostilities between the DPRK and ROK. It won't effect the US. There is nothing the DPRK can do to the US. However, that doesn't mean that there won't be hundreds of thousands of deaths from the war, mostly on the Northern side of the border.

@Farsala - the US would get in far more trouble if we didn't nuke the DPRK if they in fact nuked South Korea. They are underneath of our nuclear umbrella. If we didn't retaliate, it'd send a clear message to every country that America simply will not respond to a nuclear attack on any other nation. This would do far more harm than good (it'd promote probably a dozen countries to develop nuclear weapons, and encourage them to deploy nuclear weapons against eachother, as we wouldn't intervene). Additionally, the US wouldn't have to hit the DPRK with a huge nuke to send a message. A small, tactical weapon against a DPRK research site or nuclear base would be more than enough, and have no long-term effects.