North Korea overacts to ROK-US exercise by surge in air force sorties
North Korean jet fighters have flown an unprecedented number of sorties in recent days in apparent response to a joint ROK-US military exercise. The number of sorties by fighter jets and helicopters peaked at 700 on the day Key Resolve exercise was launched. North Korea spent around $2.7m on air force sorties. This is the equivalent of a day's worth of food for all of North Korea. It almost seems like North Korea is trying to compete with the ROK-US in the scale of the exercise. However, it is very obvious that North Korea lacks resources to conduct such exercise. The Soviet Union did not collapse because it did not have nuclear weapons. They collapsed because they invested in nuclear weapons when they could not really afford it. North Korea is taking the same path as the Soviet Union.
(http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=10400)