okay, so it can safely be said that North Korea is governed by a young, brash, politically un-schooled individual who has no qualms about bragging that ONE day, SOME day, it will be able to send an inter-continental missile fitted with some type of "nuclear warhead" to the shores of a US city, somewhere.  apparently they are diligently working to that end, albeit against world wide opinion to refrain.  THAT'S THE SCARY PART!  one might hope that they (DPRK) KNOW that this is a step which will help no one.  BUT - case in point - the two Korean countries are technically still at war, only having a TRUCE in place as opposed to a full peace treaty.  also telling is that history has shown that any country that wages a full-scale war or conflict with or against the US will eventually become an economic power as a result of the benevolent reparations that will follow.  so - they have nothing to lose AND EVERYTHING TO GAIN!  sad but true!