“I know all the horrible risks and I say destroy this regime and their missile and nuke capacity and do it now. Use nukes if needed. People talking about this missile are in fantasy land. Imagine when NK has 100 of these pointed at us, our very existence will be at risk.”
Well, whatever we decide to do, we will need the South Korean’s buy-in. Seoul will take a devastating beating with tens of thousands of casualties. Massive destruction of buildings, homes, property. Personally, I think the only solution for us would be a preemptive launch by North Korea and we then shoot it out of the sky. Then, we immediately launch a massive strike on their leadership and neuclear infrastructure.
This brings up an interesting point.
Why have the Norks decided to push a direct threat to the US? In the past, their blackmail could be backed by the threat of pounding Seoul, or, use of WMD relatively locally (South Korea or perhaps Japan.) Yes, we would pound them to ashes if they ever carried out the threat, but, in the past, the threat itself was enough for the Norks to succeed in their blackmail.
Developing a strike capability against the US mainland will not “deter” the US unless the Norks believe their capability to hit the US can survive a strike by us. That is very unlikely. What IS more likely is the possibility of a pre-emptive U.S. & allies strike, or for China to increasingly realize that the benefits of its support of the North may come to be outweighed by the risks.
Is it possible that the Norks are simply desperate, perhaps in part because the Allies’ defenses are sufficient, or becoming sufficient, to blunt “conventional” and perhaps even local WMD offense by the North? Keep in mind the Allies’ anti-missile defenses, considerable (and competent) counter battery capabilities, and that the Allies can put over 1000 planes into the area near Seoul (along the DMZ and north of it, where all that Nork artillery is located.)