Honestly, this is not a big deal.
Politics make it a big deal because it plays on people's fears, and it's an election year, so it's going to be made into one of those "what do you do about North korea" type questions.
The problem is that we've conditioned North Korea into this type of behavior. We give them aid in exchange for reducing weapons. We basically pay them off not to be trouble. Because of this, Korea has learned that all they need to do to get the things they want, is improve their military.
It's like this. If you're a fledgling nation, and you only have lots of farmland, you need to protect that farmland. So you build a military. You trade farm for weapons. In doing so, you can focus on farming improvement which then allows you to upgrade your military. The military in turn, gives you more respect and dominance over the region. Eventually, your neighbors are like, dude you have some sick guns- we should form an alliance...and we'll give you this farmland and subsidize your weapons in exchange for farming technology and border sharing. At one point, any nation could walk through this fledgling nation in free will, and now, they will get a trade agreement jst to set foot inside.
NK is like this. They have tons of minerals but no food. Lots of manpower but no market. But because they've invested their minerals and resources to weapons, they've made strong allies, like China, who are willing to support them in exchange for what is potentially a loose cannon and supplies. Additionally, then you have the rest of the world exchanging them food and medecines just to make sure they don't loose h-bombs on other countries. It's really the most efficient way for them to grow.
Instead of ostracizing them, we should be working with them. This is a Cuba situation all over again.
EDIT: And honestly, I think Kim Jong Un is the best thing to happen to NK in a long time. While yes, there is still the dogmatic rulership persisting, it's beginning to change. Kim has allowed some foreign films into the country, and has allowed dress code changes. He is somewhat westernizing the country, and that is a very big deal.
