> If North Korea scares you, then you really, really want to be scared.

North Korea isn't itself very scary. What is scary is the fact that over decades they have threatened to attack everyone around them, and the surrounding powers have responded by extending food and economic aid, in a repeating pattern. The North Koreans know this -- they know it works -- so they do it again and again, and their citizens remain captives of a throwback regime. That's what's scary.

I'm in Europe. North Korea doesn't scare me. The only people who should legitimately be concerned are those in South Korea (and to a much lesser degree Japan).

I find international politics interesting. Fear isn't really a motivation.