1. a) What is the capital of North Korea?
b) Who is the leader of North Korea?

2. Define the following words as used in the article:
escalation (para. 1)
rhetoric (para. 1)
undermine (para. 6)
erode (para. 6)
credibility (para. 6)

3. What threats has North Korea's government made against the U.S. and South Korea in recent months?

4. How does the media generally describe the increasing threats made by North Korea?

5. How do analysts view these same threats?

6. How are the recent threats of attacks different from previous real attacks North Korea has carried out?

7. a) In addition to not carrying out any of their threats, why is it hard for the U.S. to take North Korea seriously?
b) Does this fact cause you to believe that the U.S. should not prepare adequate defenses for a time when North Korea does acquire the actual capability to hit us in an attack? Explain your answer.

CHALLENGE QUESTION: Read the commentary by Rich Lowry on missile defense at: nationalreview.com/blogs/print/343314
Although North Korea has not carried out any of its recent threats, do you think Mr. Lowry is correct in saying we should have a good missile defense system rather than "simply trust that a lunatic regime running its country like a vast prison camp will rationally calculate its self-interest as we would hope [before attacking the U.S.]"
Explain your answer.