Having lived there for seven years, I can pretty much agree that the hand should stay far away from the panic button. While North Korea definitely shouldn't be ignored, everything its government says garners more attention over here than it does in South Korea. Furthermore, Koreans tend to use exaggerated language when they are emotional, and communist regimes tend to use extreme terms too. So the result is a Korean communist regime saying, "We will turn Seoul into a raging sea of nuclear fire!" instead of, "Hey, look at me!" And they tend to say it every few months, so it quickly becomes forgettable. Having said that, of course, they are only bluffing until they aren't, but there's no tactical advantage to them if they take any drastic steps. It would be suicidal for them to actually attack South Korea, Japan or the US.