The Hermit Kingdom’s hungry for media spotlight. I like to call it Attention Deficit Disorder. Or in the words of the common Filipino bystander… Kulang sa Pansin.

I woke up in my friend’s house last Sunday to announcements blaring over the city’s loudspeakers. North Korean missile launched. Expected to enter Japanese territory in a couple of minutes.

That I am still alive and writing at this point is proof that nothing horrible happened. It pisses me off though. The fact that although this is not the first time a stunt like this was pulled off by Pyongyang, nobody’s still doing anything about it. For all their tough talk, the so-called “leaders” of the so-called “powerful” nations haven’t taken any decisive action against such an obscene middle finger gesture.

Crazy isn’t it? Not so long ago, America against better judgement, got on its high horse and forced itself on Iraq. A self-proclaimed defender of democracy. Arrogantly claiming, with a televangelist’s self-righteous zeal, to be ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction. Only to fall flat on its face when none were found. On the other hand, here you have an obnoxious bully that has time and time again indecently flaunted its capacity for nuclear destruction. Ironically, America decides to sit this one out. Choosing instead to talk itself hoarse from trying out all the diplomatic tactics in the book, none of which worked.

So what makes North Korea’s case so different from Iraq? Elementary, my dear Watson. The latter is a proverbial land of milk and honey, in the form of a precious black liquid that the world is so addicted to — oil. The poor former, on the other hand, holds nothing that the world’s mightiest nation might want. Nothing to offer other than several generations of North Koreans who lived in silence and fear, under a tyrannical leader languishing in delusions of grandeur.

War is a business, a friend commented. I hate to admit it, but he’s right.