The situation with North Korea is essentially similar to one of those ubiquitous crime dramas in which the bank robber holds people hostage, and the police have to figure out what to do. Can they devise a way to arrest the bank robber without putting the hostages at risk? Answers vary from movie to movie.
In this case, the hostages are millions of South Koreans and Japanese who are threatened by North Korean military retaliation in the event of an American air strike. How much value will Trump place on the lives of foreigners in the era of “America First?” If he really means it, not much, which should worry the hell out of the South Koreans and Japanese.