Is North Korea winning deterrence war with U.S.?

NK unilaterally is winning the strategic war of deterrence here. The US and allies are bound by rules, international pressure, as well as modern populations unwilling for full scale war. NK has none of these worries and escalate continuously

China is happy for NK to push the boundaries of a weak willed international community. By seeing how far the West allows the Fat Man to go, China can assess the international appetite for conflict over the resource rich South China Sea. This is a clear power play and Trump should put it down hard or surrender American dominance in Asia to the Chinese.

nice try but this speculation is nonsense. north Korea will not survive a war. apparently the author forgot Saddam Hussein, another who authors like this speculated the massive army, so called Republican guard and unlimited oil money would easily withstand the US military and Saddam's military lasted 5 minutes. the only reason the US has not wiped out these clowns yet is China and Russia. as well as our allies there, Japan, south Korea, Taiwan and Philippines are all far more likely targets or accidental hits and it would be wrong of the US to provoke this kind of danger to them. the other fact the author fails to include is China and Russia are note likely to wipe out north Korea before it escalates. neither country wants an active US military right there, especially China, so near it's capital. plus if China allows north Korea to hit any city, their own, Japan, south Korea or the US, China loses about half their economy as trade would be disrupted , China is just not going to let this pointless country eliminate half their gnp. north Korea will not survive a war and even their posturing is enough to provoke China, this nonsense, will end soon with north Korea put down.