During testimony in front of the senate today U.S. Admiral Locklear answered a variety of questions about North Korea. Unfortunately i don't have a direct link to his words but i do have the twitter feed i was following that showed all of his answers.
So as you can see he said that we are able to respond to any threat which honestly shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. He was also very honest in saying it is an incredibly volatile sitution and Kim "May not know how else to get out of escalation" its also interesting to note that China seems to be talking with them exclusively. Locklear also mentions the possibility of Chinese and U.S. commanders discussing strategy, in his own words "Picking up a phone and talking to his opposites".
So folks thats the situation right now, we are looking at a possible NK missile launch very soon from now until around April 15th.
http://live.reuters.com/Event/North_Korea
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According to the BBC the China hasn't spoken to Kim because they cannot get in contact with him since N.Korea refuses to talk. N.Korea is on it's own.