North Korea has made abundantly clear in recent weeks that it is committed to taking a harder line toward South Korea, insisting again that the DPRK is a nuclear state and launching what it called 18 nuclear-capable rockets in a show of its resolve to carry out preemptive attacks.

These words and deeds are only the latest evidence of marked changes in North Korea over the last decade, likely reflecting a shift in the strategic thinking of Pyongyang's elite.