north. i don't believe that for a second. but the chance of some kind of an incident now when both sides are on such alert, so much emotion, so much political attention, any skirmish now could very quickly escalate. there is not even rudimentary crisis control. that's the thing to worry about. >> there is -- there's financial incentive for the north to deescalate this. because with spring coming, the harvest is coming, they've got to get troops. they used their military to harvest the fields. without that, their people go hungry. >> a lot of what they do, analysts say, is to get stuff out. extortion. to get stuff. aid, fuel, money. all of that. >> and that's the pattern we have seen in the past. make a threat and extort. >> and the pattern has erupted during april. this is the month, the whole month, where these joint military exercises between south korea and the united states are going on. this could be going on for a whole month, this tension. plus it's kim il song's 101st