Little Country, Big Lies

David and Goliath is the classic example of big verses small; David was able to slay the monstrous Goliath using just a small stone and a sling. Keeping this scenario in mind, North Korea's announcement Monday that it had set off a nuclear device provides them with the "stone" that could be used against the United States, or does it? There is debate whether North Korea even possesses the weapons at all. However, because they say that they have the weapons they force the rest of the world to treat them as if they have nuclear weapons- even if they don't. This is a brilliant move of misinformation and political manipulation assuming they do not possess the weapons.

North Korea has used this political tactic called "brinkmanship" before and achieved outstanding results. On July 5^th, 2006 they tested their ballistic missile program and dropped out of the non-proliferation treaty. This earned them bilateral talks with the United States and they were even given concessions (Lee). Last February they declared themselves a nuclear power and claimed to possess nuclear weapons. Each announcement or event usually follows a shift of global attention away from North Korea. They use brinkmanship "as part of [their] strategy to grab Washington's attention and gain leverage in future talks" (Lee). Up to this point, their use of aggressive announcements and threats has worked to gain them a massive advantage, while doing nothing but saying that they possess nukes. Again, assuming they do not possess the weapons, their political rhetoric has won them concession after concession and provided them with something very important- national security.