Obama was also there for that Libyan mess don't forget. But the Iraq invasion and the massive lies about weapons of mass destruction clearly showed that giving up your WMD programs were useless for dictatorship wanting to survive against US will.

Exactly this, NK may not win any wars against the world but they can win some battles with very severe rataliations if they're attacked and inflict substantial damage, it only takes one nuke to do so. US has always had the advantage of their countries geographical position so few enemies could strike at them now essentially the whole west coast of the US and large parts of Asia are potentially in range of H-bombs if anyone tries anything.

Lucas Rio also touched upon this some what with the Libya part of his post, NK have seen all these countries go down so rather than follow them they've armed themselves to the teeth.

I'd liked to ask those saying yes if you're in the US are you prepared to accept the liklihood of nukes hitting your country as a result.

And this actually may be the best outcome to prevent a war.

A war never broke out between the US and the Soviet because of nuclear weapons. North Korea already had Seoul has the main insurance policy but now this is on another scale. Nucleat weapons armed countries don't get attacked.

Agreed the political background of this whole situation is one many people are oblivious to but that's partly to human nature it's easier for people to understand Kim Jong Un is a madman because it's nice and simple as opposed to knowing how modern politics work and that starting and winning a war is now a disastrous solution.

I would say if they launch another missile over an allied nation, then a targeted strike on Kim Dong Un's location would be necessary. With their "god" dead, we can begin to help North Korea modernize like South Korea (mostly?) is.

There's some worrying dehumanisation and ignorance in some of the posts. So much so that I've decided to post for the first time in years.

Points have been raised about the fact that Korea is full of citizens that have nothing to do with the issues at hand. Murdering them would be more than immoral. There's been a lack of knowledge about the complexity of foreign policy decisions, but also an ignorance of US actions and their impact.

Anyway, I'm glad some people have served up questions and more complex thoughts than 'they hate us'. That's straight out of the book of negative cohesion propaganda employed by dictatorships and sham democracies everywhere.

They don't know where his location is and doing such a thing could risk Seoul and potentially parts of Japan being bombed into oblivion. 

What would be left of South Korea wouldn't be pretty. 

Oh and the global economy likely would collapse in a way that would make 2008 seem quaint. Just a few minor details. 

US will topple the North Korean regime if it is ready to do so. Why this has not happened? Because Kim dynasty is smart in developing long range missiles as a deterrent. Look at all the dumb Arab dictators who didnt develop weapons. All of them got destroyed by the US government. Kim Jong Un just wants to stay in power. No way would he be suicidal enough to start a war with the US government. It's not the first time North Korea has conducted nuke tests and it won't be the last. If they dismantle their program, they will be finished off like Saddam and Gaddafi. Are you willing to risk a lot just to get Kim off his throne?

Remind me why the global economy would collapse in the wake of the fall of a secularist country?

Don't need individual people killed. We need everyone around and including Kim to be killed. A blast big enough to level a building; not a country.