,,, semantics, I know, but are we talking about Guam or Hawaii or the continental US?
My guess would be West Coast targets fired upon with lob and pray guidance. I doubt the NK guidance systems could be precise enough to target an island. The CEP on their missiles is probably very large.
The odds of NK SUCCESSFULLY lobbing a nuke at the U.S. are not all that great. About as likely as one of those novelty contests where a guy throws a basketball from one end of the court to the other and if he makes a basket, wins a million dollars.
In NK's case, if they got in a lucky shot, it would be the end of North Korea, and Pyongyang goes down in the history books with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and rightly so.
No matter what Moscow and Beijing may think (or not think) of us these days, they have no doubt communicated to Kim Jong ILL that they would look most unfavorably upon him doing anything stupid, because they know that any nation stupid enough to fire a nuke at the U.S. will cease to exist, and radioactive fallout does not recognize any national border, i.e., Russia and China have no desire to have fallout raining down on them due to the moronic notions of KJL.
If push comes to shove, and if Beijing and/or Moscow KNEW without doubt that KJL was preparing to launch a nuke at the U.S., they might take him out themselves in order to be on the 'right side'.
Never mind Oregon, though, they don't see any problems with foreigners as long as they "distance themselves" from us. Let'em burn!
" North Korea capable of firing nuclear-armed missile at US "
Yes , semantics ...They might be capable of " firing " a nuclear-armed missile at the U.S., but where it'd land is anybody's guess .
NK will no doubt sell a few to Islamofascist thugs who don't care if the US has the capability to cook half the world with one blow.