It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

FORMER US AMBASSADOR DONALD GREGG VISITS NORTH KOREA. He reports, among other things, the following:

the North Koreans felt degraded by "insulting rhetoric" and a "lack of trust" from the United States. He said Ri pointed out that North Korea has pursued better relations with its neighbors, including South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

"His bottom line to us was essentially, 'What's the matter with you Americans? Why don't you join the procession of countries that are making a better relationship with North Korea?'" Gregg said.

Do the North Koreans mean "insulting rhetoric" like this:

The DPRK will never yield to the U.S. unilateral and brigandish demand and high-handed offensive against it.

this:

The U.S. assertion that it has no intention to invade the DPRK is a sheer lie and a mockery of the public opinion.

this:

The U.S. has rounded off all preparations for a surprise preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK by staging without let-up such dangerous nuclear war exercises as the joint military exercise "Team Spirit", a preliminary nuclear war and a test nuclear war.

this

The U.S. warlike forces are well advised to properly know who is their rival and behave themselves. The U.S. should abandon its anachronistic hostile policy towards the DPRK before talking about the DPRK's "threat."

All this in the past few days and weeks in a time when the DPRK is openly calling for negotiations and non-aggression with the U.S. I am not a particularly big fan of Bush's hard-line or of hawk engagement but anyone who has followed official DPRK rhetoric can't but chuckle at DPRK officials whining about "insulting rhetoric."