Nuclear presence

I have recently had the joy of studying Perelman's notion of "presence" as well as Bitzers thoughts on "Rhetorical Situation" again. Pair that with the international situation and you have yourself a riot:

North Korea is a place that most people would rather be able to forget and let crumble in its own good time. But that is exactly what the DPRK fears and thus they have developed a tried-and-tested tactic of presence. By waving their nuclear arms around - like they just did with this statement on nuclear tests, they keep themselves within the international system's observation box. However, as the statement shows, they can't be seen to be wanting attention, so they try to define the situation as a question of threats to national security:

"Under the present situation in which the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK have reached the worst phase, going beyond the extremity, the DPRK can no longer remain an on-looker to the developments."

...so we have to direct attention to ourselves. This is a game that will go on as long as the regieme in Pyongyang is in power - and I guess it will be an effective one for them as well, getting oil, food and development aid as well as maintaining their status as a force to be reconed with.