North Korea-desperate acts of a starving nation?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-23-korea-reaction_N.htm
I have read the article above referenced and find this international incident of the North Korean attack more than just puffing with many subtle sides and implications and has multiple complications not likely to be solved by a non proliferation treaty. Bruce Bennett's comments in the article are revealing and his analysis is compelling, I believe. I do believe the North is a potent threat as described for more than just the succession issue of Kim Jong II as a proof of his mettle in dealing wth the West. Obama has vowed support of the South Koreans. China's silence and apparent non intervention is possibly deceptive and she needs to be more vocal along with other "nuclear nations", to be certain.It seems the North is in the despeation of poverty and paranoia , and they would fear massive retaliation should they use nuclear weapons on the South. They could not win a war, but retaliation ,I deem would be Pyrrhic but a necessary response if an overt action by the North on the South should occur.China's silence should not be construed as turning a blind eye, and Obama shelving the problem as non prioritized is a misake also.Antecedent actions tell us worlds of meaning such as the act boldened in red in the quote below from the article below. Growing desperation in the North might be the motive of paranoia from the South,and Kim Jong's begging for aid from China twice, without response,and fleeings from the North to the South paints a picture of a desperate North indeed using its Nuclear capabiliy as a blackmail/bargaining technique gone awry.


Quote from http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-23-korea-reaction_N.htm
Bennett agreed that the attacks indicate growing desperation in North Korea and the potentially turbulent transfer of power to Kim's son.
Kim Jong Il has been to China twice this year, "begging for aid" and has not received much in return, Bennett said. Millions of North Koreans have starved to death in the past 10 years, according to the United Nations, and the South says the 10,000 North Koreans who have fled over to its side of the border since 2007 matches the number that made it over from the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to 2007.
"The attacks appear to be an attempt to force South Korea and the United States to negotiate with him and provide assistance," Bennett said.
Bennett said Kim's son lacks military credentials and wants to prove that he can provide "great victories" for North Korea. Footage of smoking ruins in South Korea aid that perception, he said.
Bruce Klinger of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said the Obama administration has committed itself to Mideast peace talks that are "going nowhere" and a new START arms reduction treaty with Russia that "has no advantages for the United States." In doing so, he said, the administration has sent "messages to the Iranians and the North Koreans that they're not at the top of his radar."
"One could argue that that's why they're becoming so aggressive," he said.
Klinger said the Obama administration believed that "because Bush was gone, North Korea would no longer feel threatened and would abandon provocations."
"The world is a much more difficult and dangerous place that the campaign thought it would be."
Cha recommended Obama put a lot of pressure on China to rein in North Korea, which relies on China for aid, food and energy.
Cha agreed that the North has not been a "top-tier" issue for the administration. "But events like this need to make it a much higher priority. This is close to conventional war in Asia."