[Mr 5 0]

Let's get some much-needed perspective here, shall we?

North Korea and it's leader with the bad haircut, Kim Jong-Il, are no threat at all, at least not to the United States. He could conceivably have an advanced missle capable of hitting the western United States but, if he ever did this, it would be the last thing he or anybody else in North Korea ever did. Do not doubt this.

North Korea is an economic basket-case with nothing to sell but weapons. It has a huge but very ill-equipped army that is lucky to get food three times a day, if that. On the other hand, Iraq is an oil-rich big shot in a region of turbulent flop states; North Korea is a pitiful little freak show surrounded by world powers (China, Russia) and economic success stories. Take a look at a satellite picture of the peninsula by night: South Korea ablaze in electric light, the North in darkness. In Far East Asia, North Koreas the hole in the doughnut.

Kim Jong-Il is attempting to reinvent his country which really has nothing to threaten us with directly. President Bush is not about to be distracted from going into Iraq and taking out Saddam and his weapons by the rantings and war talk from a pipsqueek nation like North Korea and a weird little man like Kim Jong Il. Why is North Korea pulling this attention-getting stunt at this time? Beats me. Probably to both distract the Bush administration (from Iraq) and to use the distraction to get a quick buy-off of some kind. This will probably fail. Meanwhile, Iraq is the focus, as it should be, while North Korea is a side-show. Don't let the media frighten you with stories about the DPRK's nuclear capability. It's feeble and even now, North Korean representatives are talking with us (via Gov. Bill Richardson) so that simply proves that all the 'World War III' talk coming out of North Korea is just that - talk.