These ought to make you feel really secure and confident in our new Secretary of Defense.

First quote:

“Intercontinental ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status. When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils… will be engulfed in a sea of fire.”

That comes courtesy of Gen. Kang Pyo Yong, who belched it forth to a lunatic assembly of tens of thousands in Pyongyang.

Why the Norks believe it’s a good idea to rattle America’s cage right now is an interesting question. One imagines that regime is on shakier ground now than ever, and their pattern has always been to address internal problems by stoking external crisis.

But directly threatening to turn Washington into a sea of fire is a bit new. Usually it’s Seoul which is going to be a sea of fire.

You would think that this kind of rhetoric should be punished in some fashion – if with nothing else than a stern indictment of the Nork regime for its atrocious poverty, its hellish human rights record or its maniacal bellicosity.

It can be understood that perhaps you don’t send a carrier group into the region as a show of force, since that might unnecessarily inflame the situation. We know these are more or less idle threats. One would perhaps suggest at least discussing the placement of missile defense assets around North Korea and then bragging that nothing they throw up will land where they hope it will.

But you’d hope for at least more than this…

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters not to worry about North Korea’s threat to carry out a preemptive strike on Washington D.C. after the United States led a push for a new round of United Nations sanctions on the regime.

“[T]he United States of America and our allies are prepared to deal with any threat, and any reality that occurs in the world,” Hagel said during a media availability on his way to Afghanistan when asked about North Korean bellicosity. “Second, we are aware of — of what’s going on.  We have partnerships in that part of the world that are important, and I — I think that — that that reality is — is clear, and that’s what we will — will continue to do.”

That’s it. That’s how our Defense Secretary responds to a lunatic who threatens to turn our capital into a sea of fire. “We have partnerships in that part of the word that are important.”

What a weak-kneed, inarticulate, putrid mediocrity Hagel is. And he’s in charge of our armed forces.