And, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, “an internal White House review of strategy on North Korea includes the possibility of military force or regime change to blunt the country’s nuclear-weapons threat, people familiar with the process said.”

Yes, there are lots of ways to initiate that, but when it comes to North Korea, military operations—meaning an invasion—seems like the only real option. Pyongyang isn’t exactly tied to the global economy, so sanctions seem unlikely to bring Kim Jong-un to his knees. Nor is various types of intensified societal pressures like mass propaganda organized to take the regime down.

An attack on North Korea to rid the world of one of the most vile regime on the planet could be an unmitigated disaster. There's a reason we've never taken this route with North Korea. We would be essentially dusting off an integral component of the Gulf War playbook — build a large attack force that can overwhelm the enemy. The problem is a massive military mobilization can't be hidden.

North Korea would instantly realize what was up. And that is what stops us. Why does a nation like that spend billions on nuclear weapons? Kim knows all too well he would never be able to defeat an allied invasion — but he will take as many souls down with him as possible one hell of an atomic parting gift. We know they can't reach us. But they can reach Tokyo and Seoul, just as an example. And we also know they have a longstanding chemical weapons (CW) program.