Korea Update: A (Dismissed) Signal from the North, A March in the South

The immediate crisis over North Korea's shelling of Yongpyeong Island has eased. There was a flutter on Friday when the North carried out a military drill with artillery fire only miles from the island, which is just off the western coast of the North-South border, and the state news agency pronounced, "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war." 

The display was more bravado than threat, however, offering a response to the tour of Yongpyeong by the top U.S. commander in South Korea and Sunday's planned US-South Korea military exercise, headed by an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in the Yellow Sea.

Enough breath can be drawn for CNN to run an "Isn't It Quaint?" feature, mixing the image of North Korean threat with a chuckle at its posturing, on North Korea's propaganda. The article opens, "'Running dog', 'imperialist lackeys', 'criminal gangs' and 'brigandish moves --- that sort of propaganda language died with the Cold War, except in the offices of the Korean Central News Agency."

Indulging in this shaking of the head at North Korea's dangerous wackiness, CNN misses the far more important story that emerged this morning. On 3 August, North Korean radio issued a clear warning, as a notice from the Western Front military command, that Pyongyang would carry out a military strike in response to any South Korean drills near the border and North Korean waters. 

There is another sign, however, that North Korea realises it may have gone too far. State radio carried a statement today that civilian deaths on Yeonpyeong from Tuesday's artillery barrage were "regrettable" if true.

So is this an indication that tensions will ease? Not so fast. The North is still blaming the US for prompting the confrontation as an excuse to increase the American military presence in the South, a line that will only be reinforced during this week's joint military exercise. And South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is telling his military to be prepared for more attacks during the war games.

Internal pressure on Seoul has also escalated, with former military officers protesting on the streets of the capital on Saturday, clashing with police officers near the Defense Ministry.