By the way, remember THIS from just six months ago!!? (If they come to a bargaining table, there is no bargaining table, because they already overturned it, defacto they are already back to full war):
By Simon Martin (AFP) May 26, 2009 SEOUL (AFP) North Korea said Wednesday it was abandoning the truce that ended the Korean war and warned it could launch a military attack on the South, two days after testing an atomic bomb for the second time. The announcement came amid reports that the secretive North, which outraged the international community with its bomb test Monday, was restarting work to produce more weapons-grade plutonium. Defying global condemnation, the regime of Kim Jong-Il said it could no longer guarantee the safety of US and South Korean ships off its west coast and that the Korean peninsula was veering back towards war. The White House said it viewed Pyongyang's threats as "saber-rattling and bluster" that would only deepen its isolation, with spokesman Robert Gibbs saying that "threats won't get North Korea the attention it craves."
Won't be good if discord erupts between Zero's inner circle and career military/defense professionals. However, I am afraid that it is what will happen if this one escalates.
You see, U.S. is trying to send large reinforcement to Afghan to repel Taliban. If N. Korea is to pull off substantial provocation(company size infantry incursion or a dozen navy ships to get even,) that could really hammer Zero. I wonder what China would do. Wince and forget?