Obviously we have to take anything North Korea does with a grain of salt. After all this is a country run by a family that in most countries would be occupying their own wing in the insane asylum. The whole system is so bizarre that George Orwell would have thought it too ridiculous to believe (why do I think that the censors in Pyongyang are putting me on their naughty list right about now).
However being insane does not mean you are dumb and by all indications the leadership of North Korea is quite clever when it comes to playing geopolitics. They have spent 60 plus years in power and have frequently pushed and tested the United States and the rest of the world. Whether it was the Korean War, The Pueblo or any of a dozen other incidents they have known how to push buttons.
This is why I wonder if they are using recent incidents to test the new administration in Washington. First they announce plans to launch a “communications satellite” into orbit, which is another way of saying they are working on the ability to send bombs anywhere in the world. When the world predictably reacts badly they threaten that any move towards sanctions could have ‘grave consequences’
And now they have taken two innocent reporters (and US citizens) prisoner and have obliquely threatened all kinds of ‘interrogations’ of the alleged spies. Of course the unspoken implication is that if we don’t hassle them over the rocket launch then they will release our citizens. This would seem to be a bit of a test to see how Obama will react to these kinds of threats.
I hope that the President does the right thing and demand the immediate release of these brave young women and does not allow the lunatic on the Taedong to get away with anything.