1 You know, I never thought about the food aid connection.  That's a really good point.

2 ^true. And what is sad is that hardly any of that food reaches the masses.

3

How funny is it that, in the 7+ years since 9/11, that's the only movie about the War on (Some) Terror where America is the good guy?

Or at least, not the bad guy.

 

4 They rely on the US (and sometimes other nations) for food aid, or they end up with famines.  Every time the Norks start lobbing missiles or doing nuke tests or sabre-rattling they get into negotiations with the US or the US and some other nations, and inevitably one of the things they bargain for in exchange for laying low for a while is a shitload of rice and other grains. 

Given the shitty economy and that there have been already been cutbacks to US/African aid, I'm guessing that North Korea is feeling it too.  The problem here is of course that every time the Norks do this psycho shit, we give them what they want, at least Bush played a bit of hardball with them.  Obama's going to give Kim whatever he wants to make him go away, and other nations are going to learn that behaving badly gets you the aid money you want.