I never figured that this was an option (especially since the last two administrations pretty much saw this as unacceptable). It may be the only way. Because once NK ever uses one, their fate is sealed.
But this would give NK more power, and who knows how that would unfold over the years.
Well, the university professor I remember more clearly than any other compared nuclear anti-proliferation efforts to gunpowder. In that, once a country figures out the science and gains the materials, you can't really stop a state from taking advantage of it. I mean, are we going to outlaw physics and chemistry? Somehow prohibit decades of scientific work, published papers, or illicitly-gained information on nuclear weaponry and energy from being used?
So, what does the U.S. do? We could try to bomb or sabotage the facility if we find it, but we've seen other countries use that with limited success. We can delay a nuclear program but it's unlikely we can stop it for all time. If we want to do something lasting, that's probably going to require a real war, but what happens then? A conventional war will do tremendous damage to Seoul and Incheon, will cost serious casualties in a ground war or counterattack, and will become the kind of humanitarian tragedy that causes resentment and violence in the future (Do we watch waves of refugees overwhelm South Korea, China, and the rest of Asia? Or let post-Kim North Korea turn into a fucking Mad Max wasteland where everyone inside dies, which would be brutally received in South Korea considering that there are living family ties across the border? Either of those sound like fun?)
Or do we swallow it? That's actually a tough choice. We haven't done a good job negotiating or tolerating this threat. They aren't so trustworthy but the West hasn't shown itself to be any better, to be frank. We talk it down, mock them, threaten them, and yet we can't displace the Kim family. Oh, and President Tr*mp? Fuck if I know. I think he's such a soulless clean slate that he'll agree only with the last person who whispered sweet nothings into his ear while fucking him in the bed, real talk. That is not the basis of a grand strategy or sufficiently developed outlook to address this problem with.