Whats the point of more sanctions? All its doing is harming the people.
It affects the top line as much as it does the bottom. Considering how almost everyone is below a very few specific people, enough sanctions may encourage backstabbing of close members of the Kim Jong regime. I mean, imagine you're given a higher ranking soldier and then your life is downgraded because the entire country is suffering massively. Suddenly those lies have nothing to be propped up on, and people may get mad / realize their leader is a fraud. Then, eventually, people may feel they have to go to last resort plans, fearing their life is over anyway..
It definitely has an effect but it's not as simple as dropping bombs on an entire country and hoping for the best. Technically speaking, North Korea keeps to themselves and we have to be wary of what they have, even if it may be less substantial than they claim. It could spell disaster for relations with other countries anyway.
Now I know people think that the U.S. is the proverbial World Police Force, but that's not true. Not the U.N., not NATO, not one organization is / should be that powerful. We don't have any right to completely uproot an entire nation. These people in NK are mostly choosing to comply. They don't have to and some do defect to SK and live happier lives after all.
I believe the reason why this differs from the middle east is scale and who's involved. There's a difference between basically enslaving (but not exactly enslaving) however many residents of your nation and creating oppressive governments that actively destabilize what used to be quite democratic and.. More peaceful countries. The middle east wasn't always "a shithole", for lack of a better phrase. Look at pictures from 40-60+ years ago. Crusades definitely have happened but now the same shit is continuing into the 21st century, leaking through religion into many neighboring countries if not globally.
LASTLY, people seem to think the United States is some evil empire of war that destroys civilizations without heed. No, that's not exactly the case. It's not exactly like the military is punching someone while they're down and knocked out already, until they stop breathing. It's more like an on/off switch. Flip the switch and the whole place is lit up like a lightbulb. Turn it off and everything resumes to 'normal', or whatever is left of 'normal' after so much conflict.
In the end, North Korea isn't a joke but you can't barge in like that there. You have to treat any amount of nuclear power with a level of respect, sometimes overbearing respect. I also firmly believe that the U.S., Canada, and many european forces will kindly assist South Korea in dismantling the dictatorship, but it's their war, and they are ready for it. People just need to be patient with this whole thing, there's always going to be someone getting hurt.