Your larger neighbor...

...needs an excuse to gain international good will, to say nothing of occupation or outright war's ability to distract entire populaces.

I speak of China, of course, and the economic stresses it is currently under make North Korea a low-hanging fruit. Mr. Kim had better beware.

North Korea on Thursday threatened "all-out war" if South Korea takes punitive action over the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. The South Korean government in an official report the same day announced that the shipwreck was caused by a North Korean torpedo attack.

A spokesman for North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission called the findings a "fabricated farce" and offered to send an inspection group to South Korea. It threatened "drastic measures including an all-out war" if Seoul takes sanctions against it. "Such an all-out war would be a holy war to completely wipe out the base of the traitorous clique and establish a great unified nation," he said.