Fighteeng!

Talk about mixed signals… ever dated a girl who was a sweetheart one second and then a psycho the next?  Well, that’s not exactly a fair comparison with the volatile behavior of North Korea, but what happened today comes close.

The New York Times reports that North Korea is turning over a new leaf by almost apologizing for the deaths caused by the “accidental” flooding of Imjin river.

“It was regrettable that unintended human casualties occurred,” a North Korean delegate told South Korean officials during the meeting at a North Korean border town on Wednesday.

The North also offered condolences to the bereaved families, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said. South Korea was pressing the North to agree to a joint flood-control system to prevent similar episodes.

“We see this as an expression of North Korean intentions to improve ties with us,” said Park Sun-kyoo, a presidential spokesman in Seoul. “This is a very positive signal.”

The warm fuzzies wouldn’t last long. Less than 24 hours later, North Korea appears to have made up another incident to rattle its sabers.

North Korea accused the South on Thursday of intruding into its territorial waters, further raising tension on the peninsula already heightened by the North’s launch this week of a barrage of short-range missiles…

“The reckless military provocations by warships of the South Korean navy have created such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides in these waters,” the North’s KCNA news agency quoted a military official as saying.

Damn… those are fighting words! Well at least the North Korean did send out a warning this time, unlike the river flood.