In Star Trek, North Korea would be the Pakleds

Remember the end of "Samaritan Snare" where the rather unintelligent Pakled shouted, "We will destroy them!"? That's what I thought of when I read this:

In Pyongyang, "hundreds of thousands" of North Koreans marked the anniversary of the 1950 start of the Korean War by "denouncing the U.S. imperialists, the sworn enemy of the Korean people," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The protesters "reiterated the firm stand of the army and people of (the North) that should the U.S. imperialists ignite another war of aggression on this land, they will mobilize all the political and ideological might and military potentials built up generation after generation ... and mercilessly wipe out the enemies and victoriously conclude their standoff with the U.S.," KCNA reported.

Let's be perfectly clear. North Korea may have a missile capable of reaching the United States (so far, Alaska and possibly Hawaii), but if they dared to fire upon American territory, we would respond in kind and then some. North Korea would see "Game over!" in the smoke signals from a mushroom cloud.

So what are Kimmy & Ko. up to? There is the danger that they might give nuclear bomb technology to terrorists, but we'd turn Pyongyang into rubble if we could trace it back to them. No, I don't think Kimmy really wants to start a war he knows he couldn't win, but he can bluff. Making noise has created quite the Pavlovian reaction in the West, because every time he threatens, Western politicians want to placate him with more food and money. But our continued aid shipments are more "Oh just take this and shut up!" than "Please don't start anything." Think Riker sending Geordi to fix the Pakleds' engines not because they're an actual threat, or out of compassion, but so they'll stop saying that annoying "We look for things...it is broken."

The United States is trying to get North Korea into multilateral talks, but I've decided we should do the reverse. (North Korea supposedly wants to deal directly with the United States, but I personally believe that's just an excuse. The moment we agreed to direct talks, they'd come up with something else.) The U.S. and our allies should not deal with North Korea at all: cut off all aid of any form, and let 'em sweat. Yes, it would generate a humanitarian crisis as millions of North Koreans faced starvation, but it would force them into actual discussions. For years we've played their ridiculous game of giving more aid so they'll consider talks, lather, rinse, repeat.

If North Korea just "tests" the missile, I like our friend Billy Beck's proposal: "Let that North Korean punk take his missile shot. And then we'll see if the United States can show him how stolen money can be put to work with American ingenuity. I say: shoot the goddamned thing down instantly as a bead can be laid on it."