NK is threatening with nuking US

[A Theist]

Actually Kim is playing Trump like a violin. He knows Trump is a blowhard who rarely, if ever, goes through on his threats (even his two military actions, in Syria and Afghanistan, were about the show and stroking Trump's ego, not militarily valid actions). And from the last twenty years of geopolitics he'll have seen the US only go after targets which cannot fight back.

Often times the best way with a bully is to show you can hurt them right back. Mostly this means going to authority, but the odd occasion a bloodied nose is more effective.

Lets also not forget that there is very little concern over collateral damage in the middle east.  From a practical standpoint, the US could probably get away with dropping a nuke on Tehran if it wanted.   Very few neighboring "allies" to worry about.

Nuking North Korea is a very different animal.  That area of the world is very densely populated.  South Korea, Japan, and China are all right there.  Even a small yield tactical nuke could have fallout travel to neighboring countries.

The U.S. has a lot of other lethal shit in its arsenal that it could drop on NOKO without using nukes. 

Here's a rundown on which nations have what as far as active nuclear warheads. I don't think North Korea would want that fight with the U.S. 

:

• April 2017 New START declaration: 1,411 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 673 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers.
  
• FAS estimates approximately 2,300 non-deployed strategic warheads and roughly 500 deployed and non-deployed tactical warheads.
  
• In a January 2017 speech, Vice President Joe Biden announced that as of September 30, 2016, the United States possessed 4,018 active and inactive nuclear warheads. (Note: This number does not include warheads awaiting dismantlement.)
  
• Biden also announced in January 2017 that approximately 2,800 warheads are retired and await dismantlement........
  

:

• Estimated to have enough plutonium for approximately 10 plutonium based warheads as of late 2016.
  
• North Korea operates its 5-megawatt heavy-water graphite-moderated reactor used to extract plutonium in the past for nuclear warheads on an intermittent basis since August 2013. There has also been activity at North Korea's reprocessing facililty in 2016, indicating that Pyongyang has likely separated plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel. 
  
• Unveiled a centrifuge facility in 2010, but unclear if Pyongyang is using the facility to produce highly-enriched uranium for weapons.
  
• Experts estimate that if North Korea is producing highly-enriched uranium, it could have the material for an additional 4-8 uranium based warheads as of 2015, bringing the total to 14-18 warheads. By 2020, experts estimate that North Korea could have anywhere between 20-100 nuclear warheads based on the rate of its stockpile growth and technological improvements. 
  

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/N...whohaswhat