Playing Tough Guy in a Crisis

In an instance of biting one of the hands that has been feeding it, North Korea has staged a new provocation against South Korea, this time shelling an area south of the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries. The incident, or one like it, should not have been unexpected. In three weeks the two Koreas along with the United States and China are to open preliminary talks to try to formally end the Korean War, which was halted 44 years ago this month by an armistice. While a high degree of guesswork is always involved in trying to fathom the often bizarre behavior of Pyongyang’s secretive rulers, it seems pretty clear that Wednesday’s incident was meant to remind Seoul and Washington that, peace talks or not, the north has not forsworn the use of force to support its political aims.

For decades North Korea has boasted of its policy of juche, self-reliance aimed at overcoming effects of the country’s isolation. Now North Korea faces spreading famine as its economy faces a fifth straight year of negative growth. It has appealed to the world for food aid. South Korea and the United States have responded generously. For Kim Jong Il, who three years ago succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, and so began communism’s only dynasty, the humiliation of relying on his greatest enemies for succor has to be especially keen.

Loony behavior at the highest levels should not, however, become a reason for suspending food aid to people powerless to affect how their rulers act. Foreign relief workers allowed into North Korea have seen for themselves the appalling effects of spreading malnutrition on children. A regime accustomed to wielding absolute power now finds itself unable to deal with a mounting domestic crisis, giving it even greater incentive to try to appear tough to the outside world. The shelling in the DMZ was a dramatic distraction. How North Korea acts during next month’s talks should provide a better clue to its real intentions.