I think that at this point the Administration is keeping their cards pretty close. No sense giving the Dog Eater any tips about what our real capabilities are.
I suspect that we were probably seconds away from launching intercept missiles against the NK ICBM launch on the 4th of July, but the ICBM failed so soon in it's flight that missile intercept was not required.
I still give it fairly good odds that the missile failed because of something we did to it. I won't speculate further on that thought other than to say it would not be the first time that we were surprized by some new secretly developed weapons system.
I think that if North Korea launches another ICBM, and if it is able to maintain itself during the boost phase, the US will shoot it down, or at least attempt to shoot it down with one of the Aegis class cruisers that are in te area.
I think that another un-announced ICBM test by North Korea ought to be cause for the whole facility to be destroyed. Not just the launch pad, but every building on the site.
I think the President has been correct and restrained so far, and is actively pursuing all available diplomatic means. He is being nice...until very soon from now, when it will be time to be not so nice.
Don't underestimate what this President is capable of doing. Giving the Pot-Bellied, Dog-Eating, Tin-Horned Little Dictator a proper ass-kicking has got to be high on the President's "To Do" list. He's going to do it right.
Not even considering that this is an area over the Sea of Japan of transit of fully loaded commercial airliners from Europe to Japan and East Coast US to Japan, not to mention maritime movements. When they launch as they do, they jeopardize many people and are clearly in violation of international law. It is a shame that one frikkin week has passed now and we still don't have a UN resolution (not that the UN is the solution to all our problems of course).
Dubya has a good track record of beating his adversaries who underestimated him. The last one is Kerry. I You are right that we should not underestimate him. He is a good poker player.
I think that we probably do not wish to have to shoot down their missle if we can possibly help it, though I'd like to think we gave an airborne (or space borne) laser assist to the taepodong's demise. A big part of this particular chess game is trying to get us to show our cards -- what our capabilities are. We shouldn't do that unless we have to.