According to officials, the plane’s GPS system failed because of jamming signals broadcast in North Korea’s cities of Haeju and Kaesong. It was forced to land just 45 minutes after it took off.

The jamming also caused problems for South Korean naval patrol boats and people in the capital city of Seoul complained of poor cell phone connections during the drill.

Tensions between North and South Korea had been rising during the period, and South Korean officials repeatedly announced new military drills along the tense naval border for several months leading up to the incident.

Just one example, Major League Baseball pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, is referenced in more than a dozen cables both classified and unclassifed, with officials expressing hope that he will add to Japanese tourism in Boston and in one case expressing annoyance at the lack of run support he was receiving when he lost a 2-1 game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Another cable wonders, after the Red Sox World Series victory, if their popularity in Japan would extend to the Boston Celtics on Japanese television.

Incredibly, not all the mentions are entirely unrelated to foreign affairs, as one cable, Tokyo 00001657 reveals Matsuzaka’s high profile signing with the Boston Red Sox excited then-Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill so much that he actually botched a round of talks with North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan.

The cable describes Hill attempting to discuss the freezing of $25 million in North Korean assets from a Macao bank, but that “Hill was too excited to solemnly engage in the talks,” instead wanting to discuss Matsuzaka’s signing with Kim, who was perplexed and reportedly had no idea who the pitcher was.

When Hill explained to Kim that the Red Sox had just paid $51 million to acquire the pitcher Kim apparently remarked that it was a “huge amount of money” and “more than double 25 million dollars,” the amount their high profile meeting was set to discuss.

The comments come just two days after North Korean officials urged the US to accept a peace deal ending the 61-year-old Korean War. Those officials said that the path toward nuclear disarament would move forward much more easily in the absence of a war.

And this is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the US comments today, more than what was actually said. US officials did not address the peace offer even in passing, instead focusing on demands as conditions for new talks.

Though this suggests the peace deal won’t be accepted, it was at the very least not angrily and publicly rejected outright, as the Obama Administration did last year in January.

North Korea’s state news agency released a statement on the issue, insisting that the 1953 armistice should be replaced with a permanent end to hostilities and an actual peace treaty between the nations involved in the conflict.

The statement also made it clear that the North Korean government believes that a peace deal would be a key to moving toward nuclear disamament on the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean government successfully tested a nuclear weapon in May, 2009.

The offer of a peace treaty is not new, as North Korean officials have been suggested such a deal for years. In January, 2010 the US State Department angrily rejected the notion of peace with the North Koreans, saying they could “never” accept normalization of relations with the regime.

“North Korea shows no signs of relenting in pursuit of its nuclear capabilities,” insisted Mullen, who was visiting as Gen. James Thurman took over command of the 28,500 US troops in South Korea.

Mullen went on to declare that the US and South Korea share a “sense of urgency” regarding North Korea, even though no major incidents have been reported in upwards of a year, and said it was vital to foil future “provocations” they assumed were coming.

This sense of urgency appeared to be absent in January, when North Korea’s government called for unconditional reconciliation talks. South Korea responded by declaring the talks weren’t worth responding to. US officials likewise refused to consider talks.

Obama was also said to have demanded that President Hu add “pressure” against North Korea because the nation had become a “direct threat” to the US mainland. White House officials now insist that the comments did not mean the US was planning a unilateral attack against North Korea.

Tensions peaked in late December when South Korea responded to a brief clash during live fire drills by launching a number of additional, even larger live fire drills and began openly talking about unifying the Korean Peninsula by annexing the North.

At the same time US officials were making these bellicose statements to China, the Obama Administration also pledged to support any moves against North Korea that Southern officials decided to make.

Predictions of this sort are pretty common, and indeed two years ago the administration predicted that North Korea would have that capability in mid-2012. It seems US officials are forever more optimistic about North Korea’s ability to advance these programs than the North is, however.

The endless speculation centers around the Taepodong-2, a missile which has been in development since 1987. North Korea’s government has twice tested the missile, in 2006 and 2009, and it failed both times. US officials seem convinced enough of the missile’s viability, at least to the extent that it can be used to demand major funding of missile defense systems, which themselves don’t work particularly well, to shoot down the missiles on the off chance they ever get them working.

But Gates insists this proves North Korea poses a ‘direct threat’ to the US and that they must be “engaged” soon. Though he mentions negotiation the US has repeatedly rejected the notion of talks with the North Korean government.

According to a statement by the ministry’s spokesment, the offer for talks wasn’t even worth responding to because it wasn’t “in the correct and appropriate format,” and the government regards it as a propaganda campaign against them.

The US has also repeatedly rejected calls for talks with North Korea, though reports suggest that the Obama Administration is now at least somewhat less hostile to the notion than they were a few weeks ago.

Since a brief but deadly clash in November, South Korea has been announced a series of major wargames and officials have repeatedly commented on what they see as the inevitable annexation of North Korea.

Unlike the previous live-fire drills, the latest drill will involve computer simulated war games. North Korea, however, insists that the latest drill proves the South’s “persistent design for invasion.”

Normally such allegations, particularly from North Korea, are shrugged off as paranoia, but given the South’s determination to launch drill after drill along the border, and their repeated public talk of annexing the North as part of a long-standing goal of reunification, the comments have at least some grounding in reality.

Tensions have been on the rise on both sides of the border over the past two months, but North Korea has recently made offers to restart negotiations. Unfortunately so far it does not appear that such talks are in the offing.

North Korea, meanwhile, threatened to launch a nuclear war if the massive drilling turned into an attack on them. Both sides appear keen on harsh rhetoric since a brief exchange of fire last month, in which both sides claim the other attacked first.

The Obama Administration condemned North Korea for its comments, insisting it was deliberately provocative. The US has promised to cooperate in whatever measures South Korea takes, including potential attacks.

Despite the administration’s usual condemnation of the North, the reality is that much of the tension over the past week has come from the southern side of the border, with President Lee repeatedly talking about the annexation of North Korea as a near-term goal.