Walter's Guide to Diplomacy

I, of course, really have no clue what to make of all the current situation (can we call it a "crisis" yet?) with North Korea, as I have never, nor will I ever, pretend to be anything but an amateur when it comes to North and South Korean military posturing. In fact, I've been mugged a few times in my life, and each time I handed over all my money in spite of not seeing the threatened weapon. That alone, I think, precludes me from criticizing the West too harshly for being overly skittish about North Korean threats to blow up Southeast Asia. Be that as it may, neither shall it keep me from making random references to The Big Lebowski in the midst of a life-and-death situation. Case in point, see the article in yesterday's Washington Post, which I forgot to post because I was locked in a tooth-and-nail battle with Blogger last night, in which Sorth Korean officials basically say of the West: "We're dealing with a bunch of fucking amateurs!!!"

South Korea shrugged off a threat by North Korea today to abandon the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Officials in the South said the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program is not as dangerous as some people in Washington believe.

"I believe the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula is slight -- in fact, nonexistent," President Kim Dae Jung told his cabinet this morning, according to a statement from his office. Kim did not mention the armistice threat specifically, a spokesman said.

[. . .]

"I wouldn't put too much weight on whether North Korea will actually initiate any real conflict," said one official, insisting on anonymity. The problem, he said, is "you've got a lot of people who haven't watched the North-South situation in the past" in Washington. "Suddenly you've got these amateurs with lots of ideas." (my emphasis)