My first impression is that the North Koreans are more sane than, say, the 12th Imam jihadists in Iran, who actually want to use nuclear weapons "in the cause of Islam", who openly boast about wiping Israel off the map, and who chanted "death to America" the same day they signed a nuclear agreement with the U.S. (Obama) roughly 2 years ago.
The North Koreans appear to possibly be more sane, sabre-rattling to get concessions. Their nation is on the brink of starvation, and an actual war, beyond some initial damage to their opposition, would collapse within weeks during an actual war with South Korea and the U.S.
And Kim Jong Un doesn't seem willing to take that move and lose power over his nation.
But there is a consideration that they might actually want to harm the U.S., and that they are more suicidal in that cause than they appear.
They could put those missiles on submarines and launch them 20 miles off our shore, and destroy key U.S. cities and bases in minutes.
They could proliferate their technology to Iran, ISIS, Al Qaida, or other Islamic nations and further increase the threat to the U.S. by hands other than their own.
A pre-emptive strike by the U.S. might yield a better result and less long-term damage than waiting for them to pursue any of the above options against the U.S. Whether by striking North Korea with bunker-busters or with actual nukes.
But it would require an invasion and occupation of North Korea to insure their nuclear threat were actually eliminated, and I don't believe anyone in the Trump administration or the Pentagon are willing to do this.
At least not enough of them.
