The game would be to sow so much confusion and pre-deals that the West will not know what to do once the test is either imminent or a fait accompli.
Bush is giving it back exactly the same way. They are also confused about what Bush is up to. It gets interesting.
In the mean time, we see Saddam syndrome enveloping N. Korea. Communications to the outside are being cut. Increasing paranoia. All these would lead to the paralysis of command and control in military and in bureaucracy.
My hunch is this is just more BS and talk from North Korea and China intended to buy time while they finish developing a few nuclear weapons and complete a successful test. Those two screwed-up communist dictatorships are just lying to us and the world while they build more weapons to use to intimidate the West. What difference does it make whether we criticize Kim Jong Il? The truth is still what it is, whether we say it publicly or not. I wonder if the concept of truth still exists in North Korea and China.