Saving face

By Creature

North Korea, not a country fond of being ignored, made some nuclear noise today. Here are the basics:

North Korea said on Thursday it might boost its nuclear deterrent if six-country talks on ending its atomic programs remained deadlocked, but said it would return if Washington met a demand to unfreeze it assets.

And some fiery rhetoric:

There is nothing wrong with delaying the resumption of the six-party talks. In the meantime we can make more deterrent. If the United States doesn't like that, they should create the condition for us to go back to the talks."

The emphasis is mine, because there is no rhetoric, better than nuclear rhetoric. Now, the problem with the North Korean rhetoric, while biting in tone, is that it needs to be a bit more showy. The North ones should take a page out of the Iranian Nuclear Rhetoric Handbook. It's simple actually, to get the attention of the ADD crowd living in the White House, a show is needed; video screens, a chanting crowd, english titles, and a person off to one side for the hearing impaired. The nuclear stage is big, so come on North Korea, pick up your game. Here is an excerpt from the Iranian handbook:

Ahmadinejad's speech was broadcast live from the ornate Imam Reza library in the holy city of Mashad, where Iran's top politicians and clerics watched a video montage of nuclear facilities as dramatic music played in the background. The Quran, the Islamic holy book, was read, a boys' choir sang the national anthem, and dancers wearing the dress of Iran's ethnicities chanted "God is great."

Oh, I forgot, North Korea is an axis-of-evil country that already has the bomb. Silly me, they don't need to pick up their game, they got all the game they need.

Now, If adults ran this country, instead of schoolyard bullies, something like this would be an option:

An analyst in Seoul said Kim's comments might indicate Pyongyang was fishing for a compromise, where the United States could say not all of the North's accounts frozen at the Macau bank were used for illicit activity and then free up some funds.

"Seoul's preference is for the U.S. to find some gesture that will help North Korea save face. China's position is not all that different," said Kim Sung-han, head of North American studies at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security.

Again, the emphasis is mine, because saving face is an act George Bush would never allow, and a concept he could never understand.

Save face more.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)