North Korea's shrill threats of nuclear war may seem overblown or absurd, but they are well tailored to a domestic audience raised on the constant fear of imminent US invasion, analysts say.
While Pyongyang's warlike rhetoric has to reach a certain decibel-level for the rest of the world to take note, North Koreans are weaned on a relentless, daily propaganda formula almost from birth.
It paints a reality of North Korea as a racially pure nation surrounded by scheming enemies -- led by the United States -- who are bent on invasion and enslavement.
Problems like food shortages are the fault of unfair, punitive sanctions aimed at weakening the North which must therefore focus all its resources on national defence for a final, decisive battle that could come at any time.
From that viewpoint, the blistering threats and warnings emanating from Pyongyang make perfect sense, and the clearly exaggerated claims for the North's nuclear strike capability are -- in the absence of any information to the contrary -- taken at face value.
Read the full story at SpaceDaily