Diplomats from the relatively small number of states which maintain missions in the country were asked to the Foreign Ministry and told that they would be given help to move out by next Wednesday because of the threat of conflict with the United States and South Korea.

Russia on Saturday called for "maxim responsibility and restraint," after North Korea declared it was in a "state of war" with South Korea and warned Seoul and Washington against any provocation. "We expect all sides to show maximum responsibility and restraint and that no-one will cross the line after which there will be no return," Grigory Logvinov, a Russian foreign ministry pointman on North Korea, told the Interfax news agency.

For any of you worried about North Korea, Dennis Rodman has some words of reassurance: Despite what you may have heard about the oppressive and isolated regime, it’s “pretty much like any other country.” On Tuesday, the retired NBA player turned global ambassador paid his second visit to “The Tonight Show” in the space the of a month. When last we saw "the Worm" on Jay Leno’s couch, he was erratic and emotional over the death of Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

As a well-regarded ambassador once explained early in my foreign service career, diplomacy is about persuading people to do what you want them to do; it’s not about getting along and mouthing pleasantries. The danger with many “celebrity ambassadors” is that they do not understand the distinction and often arrive on their self-appointed mission with no plan for follow through and little conception of the overall complexity of the situation.

Most North Koreans can’t access the Internet, and only foreigners can use the country’s brand-new 3G cellular network. But the country has still developed its own rudimentary social network — which you can now see for yourself, thanks to a SXSW panel the Associated Press’s Jean Lee gave this weekend.

If South Korea resorts to force to unify the peninsula, the region would be trapped in long-term chaos, as happened in the Middle East. A turbulent Korean Peninsula is harmful to China and the Northeast Asia. Both China and South Korea could be victims. The cost of abandoning North Korea is much higher than that of protecting it. China's strategic considerations should be aimed at maintaining the stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Could Rodman's visit achieve the same galvanizing effect? This seems implausible, given the record of the North Korean regime, with its continued testing of missiles and nuclear weapons. The most conceivable outcome is that Rodman will suffer be stigmatized even more than other anti-diplomats; after all, he applauded a regime that runs gulags amid widespread mass hunger, calling its leader "awesome".

Dennis Rodman’s bizarre North Korean jaunt has dominated headlines in both countries for days, but the U.S. State Department has no comment on the matter — as deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell made very clear in his daily press briefing on Thursday.