While I admit I don’t recall the North Koreans specifically making noise specifically about tearing up the armistice in recent memory, but I have to admit that I’m rather exasperated that the DPRK’s saber rattling gets as much press as it does.

Granted, when a nation-state starts issuing threats of war, it is newsworthy. On the other hand, Kim Jong Il’s Glorious People’s Unicorn Fantasy Playland does this every week. The ultraparanoid DPRK sees everything that happens outside its borders as a “warlike act”, “hostile”, or otherwise unwarranted belligerency that their army is supposedly poised to smash at a moment’s notice. Ho hum. An American President could mention he’s switching his morning routine by putting his pants on his right leg first instead of his left, and North Korea would pitch a hissy fit over it.

I’m not saying that they should be ignored militarily—U.S. and South Korean forces should definitely be on constant alert—but I’m tired of the press treating North Korean tantrums as politically meaningful. In that vein, just once I’d like to see the President, Secretary of State, or some foreign equivalent stand up in response to the latest bluster from Pyongyang and say “whatever, man. Either throw down or shut the fuck up. Seriously.”