North Korean Insanity

I tend to believe that no national leader is truly insane. It's a realist conceit (though I'm not really a realist), but it's hard to believe that someone could be completely insane and still rise to power anywhere. Someone, somewhere, should have a coup or something to remove someone truly stupid and insane from power before that happens.

However, North Korea constantly makes me re-think this.

After several attempts by the US and South Korea to end tensions...the North Koreans respond by declaring contested waters a "firing zone." Not that they will engage in aggression, but they will merely be engaging in some live-fire artillery exercises in the area.

The ROK Navy can, without any assistance from the US, annihilate the DPRK Navy. But it's still just a pointless provocation from people who should have learned by now how unlikely it is to work. It just reinforces the point made by many friends of mine that actually trying to work with the DPRK is utterly pointless.