For a prolonged commitment of financial isolation by China and South Korea, the DPRK would have to either test a nuclear weapon or carry out some type of overtaggression in the region.
"The statement is an overt hint that the aggression came in implementation of the Israeli threats uttered lately under the pretext of targeting 'a weapons shipment, '" the Syrian government news agency said.
Given the past century's history, it's understandable that they might initially blanch at the notion of our attacking first rather than responding to an overt, unmistakable act of aggression.