The current erratic behaviour of the North Korean administration is likely to reflect a power struggle between the young leader, Kim Jong-un, and various entrenched figures in the army and bureaucracy. Kim, who went to school in Switzerland and had some experience of the West (including a passion for American basketball) at a time when he was not expected to succeed to the leadership, may well want to move North Korea towards a more normal international posture. This would certainly be resisted by the old guard, especially the army generals, who have a vested interest in maintaining a high state of tension with the West. At the moment it seems Kim is on the losing side of this argument. Whether he has the fortitude to continue to promote a more moderate line (his youth means time is on his side) remains to be seen.

North Korea is the local neighbourhood bully and how we stand up to this pathetic wannabe shambles of a nation and call their bluff will be an indication of our diplomatic maturity.

We did the right thing when we seized their contraband drug ship and delivered a message that civilised nations do not tolerate this sort of outlaw bikie gang behaviour.

I reckon this will be a real test of Bob Carr's speaking truth to power, or whether he'll just go along with whatever the US State Dept comes out with. But should hostilities break out, then he'll really be put through his baptism of fire.

And we'll then find out just how mature a diplomat we really do have as a foreign minister.

North Korea has an unenviable position and no-one would wish to defend the often bizarre behaviour of the leadership, but just for a moment look at it from their point of view.

After the Korean War the US arbitrarily, and in defiance of all conventions of international maritime law, drew the maritime boundary northward parallel to the North Korean coast. No-one else recognises the legitimacy of this boundary, yet the Member for
Curtin seems oblivious to the problem as she complains of North Korea shelling one of the island that are properly in the North Korean zone.

She also seems unaware that an independent international inquiry concluded that North Korea was not responsible for the sinking of the US ship and that it was most likely an accidental sinking caused by a mine from US-South Korean naval exercises.

Consider also that 50,000 US troops, nuclear armed and constantly threatening, and stationed immediately to the south of the North-South border. George Bush labelled the North as part of an "axis of evil", a designation that is as bizarre as the North's threats of a nuclear attack on the US.

Whatever else they may be, the North Koreans are not prone to mass suicide, and they know as well as Ms Bishop that a nuclear attack on the US would invite immediate and devastating annihilation.

I agree with one of the earlier commenters. This is a test of mature diplomacy, not sinking to the level of childish rhetoric that could lead to massive miscalculations and yet another pointless war.

I hear today that the USA is deploying so called defensive missile shields in Alaska and Japan.

This outrage over North Korea in my view is a ruse to aim more offensive weapons at both Russia and China because they are not falling in line with " The New World Order".

North Korea in the Nuclear stakes is less than a minnow.One strike from the USA will see them in ashes.Israel who are not a signatory to the NNPP are immune from any criticism ( with 200+ nukes) yet Iran with no nukes gets demonised as a pariah state? Pull the other one!

James and Arjay, OLO is lucky to have you contributing to this forum otherwise we'd be overrun by those who applaud the warmongering, bullying effort by the U.S. to set up a New World Order run by itself.

One thing the U.S. does very well is to demonize those who present some opposition to its imperial ambitions. It also succeeds in pretending it has no nefarious designs on the Earth, a pretense swallowed wholly by poorly governed and directionless nations like Australia and Britain, etc.

Korea was invaded and partially occupied by the U.S. when it was in its insane anti-communist period. Now it is in its insane imperial period, it is making itself the enemy of the whole world.

Surely it doesn't need Julie to add to its 'fear everyone like we do' campaign!

What a nerve some of you seem to have, questioning one of the Australian mouthpieces of the USA.
If we did body counts for the last few years we would see which country has killed the most people, probably North Korea would not make the top 10.
If the phone line went down between Canberra and Washington we would not have a foreign policy as there would be nobody to tell us what to say.