Kim Jong-il v.s. Everybody

Uh, we may be at war with North Korea. Sort of. Actually, Kim Jong-il seems to think he’s at war with, well, everybody:

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test “a declaration of war,” as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.

The North broke two days of silence about the U.N. resolution adopted after its Oct. 9 nuclear test with a statement on the official state news agency, as China warned Pyongyang against stoking tensions.

“The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war” against the North, the statement said. North Korea is known officially as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said the North’s response was “not very helpful.”

So…has North Korea declared war on the entire United Nations? Or just the Security Council?

The last time something like this happened was when Noriega declared that Panama was in a “state of war” with the United States. We invaded almost immediately.

I think this is just Kim Jong-il running his mouth off as usual. But now that he’s more-or-less a nuclear power, people pay some attention. For example, China, his biggest supporter in the region, is now slowly backing away, like someone beginning to realize that their eccentric friend may actually be dangerously crazy.

With a little luck, some of his military people—who would bear the brunt of any warfare—will take the initiative and assassinate him. Then again, he and his father probably made sure that people with initiative were kept out of the high ranks of the military for exactly that reason.