This is all worrying because the time has finally come to decide whether North Korea will be permitted to have full-fledged nuclear strike capabilities, complete with ICBMs and hydrogen bombs. People have debated this very issue for decades. At what point does it make sense to strike North Korea? If nothing is done about these recent advances, the answer will be obvious: never. Because once they start building up an arsenal of ICBMs with hydrogen bombs, the "military option" (if it was ever a real option) will be gone.

The military option has never been a "good" option, because tens of thousands (or more) people would die and there would be a huge humanitarian crisis. Even before North Korea had nukes and ICBMs. But with ICBMs and hydrogen bombs, that option becomes completely unacceptable under any circumstance: potentially tens of millions killed.

So it's sort of "now or never" - either take them out, or they'll never be taken out (militarily). We will be left with sanctions, diplomacy, and whatever China can pull off behind the scenes.