Excellent post & Wecome to the forum, FreeMason!...
I only have three points about North Korea, but one of them is partisan, so I will lay silent on that issue...
The two points I WILL make...
1) I BELIEVE we are at a stalemate that is more livable to the US than to NK...Thus, nothing more than a waiting game to see who draws first...The only difference is that the perception is NK is "gung-ho" and the US is "yawning" with indifference...We KNOW they won't shoot, which leads us to point #2...
2) NK is different from the Cold War tactics because they can't obtain the necessary weapondry for MAD(Mutually Assured Destruction)...The US & USSR each knew that one button pushed means they are ALL pushed...
Not the case here...NK knows that if they were to throw one up, they would be signing their own death warrant and the result of their actions will NOT be "mutual"...